Via Memorius - Ante Officium (3/5)
by Ashantai
Summary: Post-SAR; When White captures Joshua, Max enlists the help of Zack and a small army of X5s to save him from becoming just another piece of erased Manticore evidence.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Ante Officium 

Author: Ashantai 

E-Mail: ashantai@hotmail.com 

Archive: Please ask! 

Pairings: Dunno yet... :) 

Rating: PG-13 

Spoilers: Probably lots because I have a thing for flashbacks... likely any episode Zack has ever appeared in will be spoiled. :) 

Summary: When White captures Joshua, Max enlists the help of Zack and a small army of X5s to save him from becoming just another piece of erased Manticore evidence. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel, wish I did, don't sue me please. 

  


This story is part 3 of the Via Memorius series. Click on my name to see the rest (they are numbered 1-4)

  
ANTE OFFICIUM - Chapter 1 

"You have one new message," Zack's voice mailbox told him. He hit the one, and Max's soft, happy voice came over the line. 

"Thank you, Zack," she said, and there was a click. Zack hung up the phone and frowned for a moment at the non-emergency call, then slowly smiled as he shook his head and deposited a second quarter, dialling a number from memory. It rang eleven times. 

"Hello?" a sleepy, slightly annoyed voice finally answered; Zack checked his watch and realized it was past 0200, both where he was and in Helena. He'd lost track of the time. 

"Krit?" Zack asked; he heard a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line as his brother awoke fully. 

"Zack?" he breathed. "Is that you?" 

"It's me. Sorry it's taken so long to call." 

"I've been so worried about you, Zack!" he cried. "How long have you been out of Manticore? What did they do to you, are you okay?" 

"I'm fine," Zack said. "Don't worry. Listen, though, Max isn't dead." There was a short pause on the line. "Krit, did you hear me?" 

"Lydecker said-" 

"She was dead, but... it's complicated." 

"You saved her." It wasn't a question; there was a relieved smile in his voice. "I knew you wouldn't have let her die." 

"Yeah, well..." 

"How is she?" 

"She's good." Zack smiled into the phone. "She's doing fine." 

"What about Syl, have you talked to her yet? She'll be so happy to hear about Max." 

"I'm going to call her after I hang up with you," Zack told him. "How's Chicago?" 

"Nice. I've got a place right on the lake. It's really great, you should come see it." 

"Maybe later," Zack said. "I've got some things to take care of." 

"You always do... You sure you're alright?" 

"I'm fine." Zack cleared his throat. "Well, I should let you go back to sleep." 

"Yeah, right. You think I'll be able to sleep after this call?" Zack smiled, allowed a brief pause. 

"Anyway," he continued, "I just wanted to let you know Max and I are fine." 

"Thanks, Zack," Krit said softly. 

"I'll talk to you later, alright?" 

"Okay. I love you, Zack," he said. Zack stood there for a moment, remembering Jondy and Zane walking into the shadows, devastated, alone... because of him. 

"I love you, too, Krit," he said, barely above a whisper. He hesitated. "Take care of yourself. Watch your back, okay?" 

"But Manticore's gone," Krit's confused voice came. 

"Just don't let your guard down," Zack insisted. 

"All right, I won't," Krit said slowly, after a moment. 

"Good. Bye, Krit." Zack hung up the phone, took a huge breath, and deposited another quarter. Syl answered on the third ring; she was in California, two hours before Zack. 

"Hello?" she answered cheerfully. 

"Hey," Zack said, glad to hear her voice again after all this time. He heard a thump as the phone tumbled from her hand, then a muffled sound as she dived after it, bringing it shakily to her ear. 

"Zack, thank God," she breathed through relieved tears. "I've been waiting ages for you to call me! I was almost sure you were dead." 

"Yeah, sorry about that... I've had things to take care of. But I'm okay, Syl. How are you doing?" 

"Everything's fine here," she said, then added quickly, "What did they do to you?" 

"Nothing I couldn't bounce back from," he answered, shrugging her question off. There was a short pause, then her soft, shaking voice came over the line. 

"I tried to get to you, Zack, I really did. But the X7s... there were so many of them. And you were at least half a klick away before... I- I didn't see them until they were already on you. I'm sorry, Zack. I should have tried harder to..." She swallowed hard. 

"Don't cry, Syl," Zack said softly. "It's okay, I'm just glad you got yourself the hell out of there. I'm just glad you're okay now." 

"And our little Maxie..." she sobbed. 

"Max is alive," he told her, and there was shocked silence for several moments. 

"Lydecker lied to us?" Her voice was filled with fury when she finally spoke. "I'm going to _kill_ that-" 

"No, no, he didn't lie," Zack said, though he immediately regretted sticking up for the man they all hated and didn't really know why he'd done it. "Besides, he might already be dead." 

"I don't understand." 

"It's complicated," Zack echoed the explanation he'd given his brother. "Look, I have to go now. I just wanted to see if you were okay." 

"You're not going to come and see me?" She sounded so disappointed that it hurt him to hear her say it. 

"No, I have some other things I have to do," he said gently. "I'll visit you another time, okay?" 

"Okay..." She sounded so sad. 

"I love you, Syl," he said after a moment. 

"I love you too, Zack," she answered, sounding both surprised and delighted that he'd said it first. He smiled, relieved to hear the happiness in her voice. 

"Bye, Syl," he said, and hung up the phone. He started to turn away from the phone booth, but something made him hesitate, deposit another quarter, and call his voice mailbox again. 

"Zack," his message started. "This better-" Zack punched in the code and there was a beep. 

"You have one new message," the automated voice said. Zack frowned; how had he known that? He hit the one to hear the message. 

"Zack, it's me. I don't know if you still check this mailbox, but I didn't know who else to call. I want you to come and see me, if you're still the CO. It's not an emergency, and I don't even know if you're going to call me back. Maybe you're dead." The voice lowered, sounding almost uncertain. "I hope you're not dead. You always said you'd look out for all of us, even if... Anyway, I'm calling you because I remembered that. So you'd better come. You helped me once, Zack... well, lots of times... saved my life. And I am grateful, though I know... I know that I haven't shown it. I couldn't show it. But now... I don't know what's wrong with me, if it's wearing off, or if it was always just me and never them and I was weak..." The voice became annoyed. "Look, this probably doesn't make a lot of sense to you, and it makes even less sense to me... I'm in Carson City... Nevada. The number here is 775-555-5762. So just call me, okay?" There was a click, and he stood there for several moments, staring disbelievingly at nothing. 

  
Author's Note: Yes, I know, it took pretty long for Zack to return Syl and Krit's calls... but he was busy with Jondy and Zane and White and getting shot and all that... and it wasn't like they were emergencies... so yeah, it's all good. No worries. :)


	2. Chapter 2

For spoilers, pairings, disclaimers, etc., see Chapter 1 

Author's Note: Herbal makes an appearance in this chapter; I realized only afterward that he is no longer on the show. They never actually _killed_ him or anything, he sort of just disappeared, so hopefully you won't mind him showing up here. :) 

Author's Note #2: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I've had writers block, and even worse than that I've had to study for exams (ugh!). But it's not as if I've been doing nothing; I did write two other fics between chapters 1 and 2 of this one- "She Fell" and "Family & Machine Guns"- so I'm not entirely useless! :) Anyway, hopefully this is worth the wait!!! Please review! Thanks! 

  
ANTE OFFICIUM - Chapter 2 

"I can't believe Normal tricked me into working overtime," Max complained, flopping into a chair at her friends' usual table at Crash. "'The customer called in three point two seconds before closing, and you're going to pick up that package, missy!'" she mimicked his voice. "I'm telling you, I could have snapped his greasy little neck right there." Original Cindy and Sketchy laughed over at her. 

"Ah," Herbal said. "I-and-I don't get any more pain from this man than Jah means for us to do. He is only a tool of the Most High." 

"I'm not in the mood, Herbal," Max said to him, not unkind but a little impatiently. "I don't think I can digest any of your wisdom today." 

"Just listen, my sister," he said in his friendly, easy-going way. He tapped his forehead. "'Tis no need for digestion here. Just listen to the words and let them wash over you like waves." 

"Okay, whatever." Max sighed, dropping her head down onto her arms, which were folded on the table. Herbal smiled and shook his head at her as though she was hopeless. 

"What's wrong, boo?" Cindy asked; Max shrugged. 

"I don't know," she said. "Just restless, I guess." 

"I hear you," Cindy said, tapping her glass against Max's. Max managed a small smile. 

"Sounds like you need a beer," a voice came from behind her. She groaned and sat up. 

"You know, most people who are thrown from cars doing 85 miles an hour generally stay in bed for more than a week," she complained. 

"Yeah, well, I'm not most people," Alec said, picking up the nearly-empty pitcher on the table and walking off to buy them more. 

"He certainly likes to flash his money around," Cindy remarked. 

"Yeah," Sketchy complained. "He has the same puny salary as us, why has he got so much extra cash?" 

"You don't want to know," Max muttered. Sketchy grinned over at her. 

"You're one to talk, Max... you've been supplementing your income a little, too, huh? At the Blowfish Tavern?" Max groaned and Alec rejoined them just in time to hear Sketchy's comment. He stifled a laugh, sitting down next to Max and pouring her a beer. 

"Yeah, how is that going?" he asked her; she glared at him. 

"Shut up," she muttered, taking a sip of her drink and inching her chair toward Original Cindy's. Alec didn't seem to notice. He opened his mouth to say something else Max would likely not want to hear, but before he could the timer on her pager started ringing and she jumped up, looking down at it. 

"Gotta go," she said, waving to the gang and heading for the door. Alec followed, to her annoyance. 

"Where to?" he asked, sidling up beside her. 

"Joshua's. I haven't been there for a couple of days, and I promised I'd come to see his newest painting." She smiled in spite of Alec's presence next to her. "Number fifty-nine." 

"It was fifty-eight the last time I was there," Alec remarked. He glanced around Crash and shrugged. "Okay, Max, I'll come with you." She turned to him. 

"Did I _ask_ you to come with me?" 

"Maybe not in specific _words,"_ he said, smiling at the look on her face. "But I can tell you want me to come." Max rolled her eyes at him. 

"Ugh," she said, but allowed him to accompany her out to her motorcycle. They climbed on and she revved the engine. They sped the darkened streets of Seattle, Max relishing the feel of the wind whipping through her hair, until she stopped reluctantly in front of Joshua's house and had to get off. She walked up the short flight of creaky steps and pushed the door open, Alec behind her. 

"Joshua?" she called into the darkness, narrowing her eyes as an odd feeling came over her, pricking up the hair on the back of her neck. She couldn't describe how she knew, but something wasn't right. She glanced over at Alec and saw his hardened jaw; he felt it, too. 

"Hey Josh!" he called; no answer. They exchanged a grave look and continued deeper into the house, tensely. "Maybe he's out taking a walk," he suggested low into her ear, no humour in his voice. She ignored him as they entered the living room and her eyes widened as she took in the scene before her. 

"What happened in here?" she breathed. Papers were scattered everywhere, a chair was overturned, another ripped, his lamp broken. The room had reverted to how it had looked months before, when she and Joshua had first arrived in the house. But Joshua had gone to great lengths to fix the house up since then; he would not have let it get like this. Alec seemed to agree as he scanned the room with wary eyes. 

"I'll check the basement," he said. Max nodded and headed for the kitchen. It was empty; the entire house was silent. She knew with a chill that they would not find him here. Max crossed the room as she caught sight of something thrown against the desk in the corner of the room. Her heart stopped as she saw it, one of Joshua's painting, the frame shattered, part of the canvas ripped away. Unfinished. 'Joshua #61' had been scrawled in the corner. Had he been working on it when... what? What had happened here? She crouched down and touched the dry paint lightly, just as she heard Alec return from the stairs. He crossed the room and sat crouched down next to her, staring tensely at the painting. She turned slowly to him, hopefully, but he just shook his head. 

"He's not down there," he said. Max looked at him. 

"White," she concluded. Alec met her eyes and slowly nodded. 

"I'd bet your life on it," he said, but she was too upset to kick his ass or even to glare at him for his comment. 

  
"You're checking your messages again?" she asked him as he pulled the truck into a gas station parking lot. She could have been annoyed, could have thought he was stupid, anything, but there was no emotion in her voice; nothing like what he had heard on her message four days before. The moon was hanging low over the trees and it was cold outside. 

"Yeah," he answered heavily, unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the driver's door. 

"It's a waste of time," she said coolly as he put a foot out. He stood up, turned back to her. 

"You're out of line, soldier," he said to her. She blinked, and flicker of something almost like emotion went through her eyes. Then it was gone and she was impassive again. He stifled a sigh. 

"Yes, sir," she said haltingly after a moment. Zack closed the door behind him and shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket, crossing the lot to the payphone. He found a quarter in his jeans and pushed it into the slot, dialling his number and then his code, checking for new messages. The automated voice told him there was one. 

"Zack, it's Max." Her voice on the answering machine was shaking with tears. Zack's eyes widened and the breath caught in his throat as he tensed for what might come next. "I need you to come to Seattle right away. White- he's gotten a friend of mine. Don't worry, I'm okay." Zack relaxed slightly. "I've got to get him out of there right away, or White's going to kill him. I hope you're close because if you're not then me and Alec are going to have to do this by ourselves... Anyway, call me or page me or something. I'll talk to you soon. Bye." 

"9:37pm, February 7th, 2021," the automated voice told him a moment later; one hour ago. Zack slammed the receiver down angrily, searched in his pockets for a quarter, and shot it into the phone. He quickly dialled Max's number. 

"Hello?" a woman's voice answered on the second ring. 

"I need to talk to Max," Zack said immediately. 

"Hang on," Cindy said, sounding slightly annoyed at his brusqueness. There was a short silence in which he tapped his fingers against the cold metal of the phone booth impatiently. 

"Zack!" Max greeted him tensely a second later. 

"Don't even _think_ about doing _anything_ by yourself," he growled into the receiver as soon as he heard her voice, a little more harshly than he'd intended. 

"Where are you?" 

"My ETA is fifteen hours. _Wait_ for me, Max." 

"I will," she promised. 

"Who is it? An X5?" 

"No. His name is Joshua." 

"Joshua?" Zack's brow furrowed in confusion. "What series is he from?" 

"I don't know." He heard a small, sad smile enter her voice. "He was first. Special." 

"Okay..." Zack frowned for a moment as he remembered his passenger. "Look, Max, I've got someone with me." He glanced back at his truck; she sat there, staring out the window, sitting with perfect posture in her seat. She felt him watching her and turned, fixing him with an emotionless, impassive look. He averted his eyes from her. 

"Who? Jondy?" Max's voice was slightly uplifted; excited. "Zane?" Zack closed his eyes briefly. 

"No. No, we've split up." 

"Oh." She sounded hurt, tense again. "Who is it?" 

"Look, I don't want to talk about it on the phone and we've got to get moving if I want to get there tonight. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon, okay?" 

"Okay, Zack... Bye." 

"Bye," he said curtly, and hung up the phone, shaking his head at himself. He went back to the truck and climbed in. 

"We have to stop off in Sacramento and then we're going to Seattle," he said to the young woman beside him. 

"Isn't that where White is?" she asked, sounding both unimpressed and emotionless. She turned and fixed him with a blank look that unnerved him, annoyed him, and made him sad all at the same time. 

"Yeah," he answered, starting the engine and pulling out of the parking lot. "That's where White is." He looked over at her, searched her face for a hint of emotion, fear even. _Anything_ would have pleased him at this point, but Brin just nodded after a moment and turned back to the window to stare outside again.


	3. Chapter 3

For spoilers, pairings, disclaimers, etc., see Chapter 1 

  
Author's Note #1: I have given White's 'right-hand man' from Bag 'Em and Proof of Purchase (the dark-skinned, cute young guy- Kyle Alisharan) the name 'Alex Pineda' because that's who I recognize him as (from a stupid show that was on a while back called 'Breaker High'). On DA he is credited only as 'Operative' so I thought he needed a name. He didn't die at some point, did he? I really hope not... :) 

Author's Note #2: For those of you who read Chapter 2 before February 4th, I have changed a couple of things in order for some of the events in this chapter to take place (don't worry, not huge changes). 1) There was no object found in Joshua's house to tell Max that White had taken him; she and Alec just assumed 2) Zack's ETA, instead of two hours, is now fifteen. :) 

Author's Note #3: As the last two chapters have been, this is mostly setting the stage, a lot of character development/interaction, not a whole lot of furthering of the plot. I'm really, really sorry about that- I just wanted to get this out for some feedback so I could be inspired to continue because I'm having some trouble going on. So please review it!! 

Author's Note #5: As you may have noticed, flashback-junkie me actually didn't include any flashbacks in chapters 1&2. But fear not, they will be making a (small) appearance in this chapter and (larger) appearances in further chapters to come. 

Author's Note #6 (last one, I promise!): If you haven't already checked out my website, the X5 Resource page, please, please do! The addy is http://members.tripod.com/~Ashantai/DarkAngel/X5Resource.html 

Without further ado, enjoy this story and PLEASE REVIEW IT because I really need feedback!!! 

  
ANTE OFFICIUM - Chapter 3 

  
Pineda showed White Joshua, who was just coming to in a metal chair, his hands restrained behind his back in cuffs. He growled at the two approaching men dangerously but White looked unimpressed. Joshua knew this was White because Max had shown him a picture. 

"What is it?" he asked Pineda. 

"It appears to be part canine," the man answered. "Maybe it was specialized for sniffing bombs or something." 

"What the hell would you need that for, why not just use a real dog?" White leaned down and stared at Joshua with a disgusted look on his face. Joshua felt like whimpering but he wouldn't. Max had told him to stay away from this man at all costs, but here he was. 

"That's strange," Pineda muttered, shuffling through some papers with a frown on his face. White straightened and glanced back. 

"What?" 

"He's not in the file." 

_"What?"_ White asked again, irritably; Pineda shook his head, staring down at the papers. 

"The Committee gave us a list of all the transgenics we need to bring in before we're done... but he's not on here, sir." White shook his head. "What am I going to do with you?" he asked Joshua angrily. 

"Joshua not on the list," Joshua said, grinning. "Let Joshua go, then. No one finds out." He made a pleased sound and smiled, but White just stared at him. 

"Okay, it can talk. And it has a name." He leaned down again. "Joshua, is it?" he said with disgust. "What exactly did Manticore make you for?" Joshua let out a low growl. "Not Manticore. Father." 

"What?" 

"Father made me." 

"Whatever," White said after a moment. He looked at Pineda. "Get a scan of its barcode; we'll run it through the Committee's database. Let's hope they just forgot to put it on the list and there aren't unidentified transgenics out there as well as the ones we already have to track down." Pineda nodded and walked around behind Joshua, moving his long hair out of the way. 

"Sir?" he asked White's receding form, his voice surprised and a little unnerved. 

"What now?" his boss asked angrily, halting. 

"This one doesn't have a barcode." 

"Excuse me?" White snarled. "That's impossible." He stalked over to behind Joshua and looked down at his blank, regular neck. Slowly he turned to face Joshua, his mouth open in a disbelieving grimace. 

"What the hell are you?" he asked. 

"I was first," Joshua said. "Special." White and Pineda exchanged a look. 

"First?" Pineda asked. "You mean you were the first transgenic created by Manticore?" Joshua growled again. 

"Not Manticore. Father created me! All of us." 

"Whatever," White said again. He ran a hand through his hair, looking at Joshua with a mixture of annoyance and disgust. He turned to Pineda. "Run some tests. I want to figure out what the hell this thing is. Then ship it off to forensics for examination." 

"Yes, sir," Pineda said; White left and the younger man turned to Joshua, who glared up at him and growled to hide his fear. 

  
Zack walked up the steps and through the front door of the small Californian townhouse; a girl of about fifteen or sixteen was just walking into the entranceway from the adjoining living room as he came in. She jumped when she saw him letting himself in, a gasp catching in her throat. 

"Who are you?" she asked, taking a step back. "What are you doing here?" Zack opened his mouth to answer, then looked down the hallway toward the kitchen and headed in that direction. 

"Syl!" he heard the girl call from behind him, her voice high and frightened. He saw his sister at the kitchen table up ahead and watched her stand quickly and turn toward him warily, looking ready for a fight. She relaxed when she recognized him and dropped her defensive posture, grinning big. 

"Zack!" she cried, throwing herself at him. The girl from the living room stood in the doorway, staring at them uncertainly. 

"You know him," she stated after a moment; Zack dropped his arms from around Syl as she turned toward the younger woman. 

"Don't worry, Becky," she said. "He's my brother." 

"He didn't knock." 

"He's not very good on manners," Syl said quickly, eliciting a semi-friendly glare from Zack. She smiled sweetly at him and motioned for the girl to give them some time. After a moment, Becky nodded and left them alone. Syl sat back down at the table and Zack joined her. 

"What are you doing?" he asked, looking over at the books and papers spread out before her. She flushed slightly. 

"High school diploma," she explained, and shrugged sheepishly. "I figure now's as good a time as any and I've been refused enough jobs because of it." He looked over at her, nodded. She'd had a lot of bad things happen to her during her high school years, and she hadn't been able to graduate because of it. He was proud of her for this, secretly had wondered when she'd get her act together and do it. 

"What are you here for, Zack?" she asked after a moment, not looking up from her papers; her voice was soft and hesitant. He smiled and tilted his head at her. 

"Maybe I just came to see how you were," he said. Syl glanced over at him. 

"Really?" 

"No," he said heavily after a moment. She rolled her eyes and laughed at him; then she noticed the look on his face and softened. 

"What's wrong?" she asked, turning away from her books to give him her complete attention. He looked at her, not knowing how truly glad he would be to see her again until this moment. 

"I need you to pack some things," he started. Her face paled slightly. 

"Have I been compromised?" she asked after a moment; Zack shook his head immediately and she relaxed. 

"No, you're okay. It's Max; she needs our help," he explained. Syl brightened at the mention of visiting Max. 

"Seattle again?" she asked; Zack nodded. She stood and gathered her books up into a sloppy pile. "I'll get some things and we'll go," she said, not needing any further information; he smiled at her, relieved at their comfort with each other. She had always been able to understand him better than most people, including their other siblings. Syl left the room and returned a few moments later stuffing a few last items into a duffel bag, Becky trailing behind her. 

"Do I need a jacket?" she asked Zack, holding one up. 

"It's February and we're going to Seattle," he answered. "I'm thinking rain." 

"Oh yeah. Right." She stuffed it in. 

"How long are you going for?" the girl asked Syl. 

"I'll be back in-" Syl broke off and looked at Zack. 

"Two or three days, maybe four," he supplied. Syl smiled at the girl, touched her shoulder. 

"See, that's not too bad." 

"What about your job?" Becky asked; Syl hesitated at this, then shrugged. 

"I didn't like working there anyway." She sighed, then turned to Zack. "Let's go." She followed him out the front door, Becky on their heels, annoying Zack slightly. 

"Don't forget to lock the doors at night," Syl said as they went out to the car Zack had picked up just outside of California. She caught sight of Brin sitting sleeping in the front passenger seat and blinked, but forced a smile and turned back to Becky. "And don't go onto 3rd street alone." 

"I know," the girl said as Syl opened the back door and threw her stuff in. She hugged Becky goodbye and climbed into the car, where Zack was already waiting in the driver's seat. 

"Have fun!" the girl called as they drove off. Zack glanced in the review mirror. 

"Put your seatbelt on," he ordered. 

"It's not the law," she said, even as she buckled it. 

"It should be. There are enough ways to die in this country, self-endangerment certainly shouldn't be one of them." 

"Yes, sir." To his annoyance, Syl mock saluted him, then turned serious as she glanced at Brin. She gave Zack a look. 

"Long story," he said, gripping the steering wheel. 

"It's at least a twelve-hour drive to Seattle," Syl said flatly, crossing her arms over her chest and locking with Zack's eyes in the rearview mirror determinedly. "So tell me." 

"She called the contact number a few days ago," he explained. "When Manticore burnt down she escaped with- Wait, you know about Manticore, right?" 

"The Washington one, yeah." She shrugged. "It was all over the news." 

"It was all over the news as a VA hospital," Zack reminded her; Syl smirked at him. 

"I managed to crack that code." 

"Anyway, so Brin-" He stopped. "We were just talking about you." Syl glanced over at her sister, who was now awake. She leaned forward cautiously, searched for the little girl she'd known so long ago in the woman's eyes. It scared her when she didn't find her, but she forced a smile onto her lips anyway and squeezed Brin's shoulder. 

"Hey, girl," she said. Brin looked down at Syl's hand. 

"Hello," she said after a moment. She looked confused, then her brows lifted slightly. "Syl." 

"Yeah. It's good to see you, Brinny," Syl said, using her childhood nickname to try and evoke some emotion from the woman. Even Zack glanced over, his face hopeful. A flash of something went through Brin's eyes, but then she gingerly extracted her shoulder from Syl's grasp and turned to the window. Zack looked away and there was a long, long silence. 

"I hope Becky's okay without me," Syl said finally as she saw the sign 'You are now leaving Sacramento' pass by. She smiled in spite of the tension in the air. "She's such a child sometimes." 

"How are your kids?" Zack asked her, struggling to make conversation. Brin turned around. 

"You have children?" she asked, flatly. Syl looked at her; was that surprise in her eyes, or hope maybe? Maybe it wasn't even anything at all... Her heart was heavy as she looked at Brin. _Where has my big sister gone?_

"I volunteer at a neighbourhood first-grade class every second Tuesday," she explained. Brin nodded without emotion. "It's great, you really feel like you're doing something for the community, keeping those kids out of trouble. You know, there's a lot of stuff for them to deal with nowadays." Her smile faltered slightly. "Oh, I guess maybe you don't remember... " She glanced away. "Well, never mind." 

"I remember everything," Brin said softly as she gazed out the passenger window again. 

"You do?" Syl asked, surprised. "That's great. I figured, when you went back, that they would have-" Zack caught her eyes in the rearview mirror with a hard look and she stopped herself, then smiled at the back of Brin's head. "Well, that's great." She turned and looked out her own window, stifling a sigh. 

"So what does Maxie need us for?" she asked after a moment. This seem to be an acceptable topic of conversation for Zack. 

"There's this guy, White, who's been hired to erase all evidence that Manticore ever existed," he began; Syl prickled. 

"You mean to kill us." 

"Yeah." 

"Who was he hired by?" she asked tensely. 

"Well, the government, I'm assuming," Zack said. He sighed. "Does it matter?" 

"No." Her voice was pained. "One more person trying to kill us." She shrugged. "But it's just one guy, right?" 

"This guy's different," Zack said tensely. 

"Different," she repeated. 

"Max said he was a better fighter than us, that all his men are." 

"I find that hard to believe," she said disdainfully. Zack gave her a look. 

"We're not perfect, Syl," he reminded her. "Tryptophan and all that?" She shrugged. 

"What then, these guys are transgenics too?" 

"No, they're something else." He frowned. "I don't know; Max doesn't either. He's kidnapped a friend of hers, a transgenic that escaped from Manticore named Joshua, and she wants me to help her get him out." 

"And me and Brin?" 

"She doesn't know you're coming," he said. 

"You want to surprise her," she stated; Brin glanced over at Zack curiously. 

"No..." he protested. Syl smirked. 

"Yes you do," she teased. "You want her eyes to light up. You want her to be so, _so_ happy. You want-" 

"Okay, Syl, that's enough," he said, only half-serious. Syl smiled to herself but let him continue. "I was thinking of calling in Krit, too, if-" 

"Great!" she cut in. 

_"If_ we need him," Zack continued. "I still haven't gotten the whole story out of Max. You know I don't like to discuss stuff on the phone." 

"I think I'm familiar with that particular paranoia of yours," she said, humour touching her voice. 

"Anyway," Zack continued, all but rolling his eyes at her, "Krit's the nearest one of us to Seattle besides you." 

"Really?" Syl asked, trying to sound nonchalant, playing with the zipper of her duffel bag. "There's none of us closer?" Zack's eyes glazed over momentarily as he half-registered her question. 

"Well, I just moved Zane to-" he began, then halted. He glared at her in the rearview mirror but smiled after a moment good-naturedly. "Nice try." 

"I thought so," she said, grinning at him. There was a brief silence before she spoke again, serious now. "So we're going into hostile territory without knowing the strength or capabilities of the enemy," she said slowly. She looked at Zack. "That doesn't sound like you." 

"Yeah, well, Max called me and said that if I didn't agree to help her she and Alec were going in by themselves." His voice dripped with disapproval. 

"So you had no choice." Syl nodded knowingly; that was Max all over- so determined to do the right thing, even if... She shook the thought away before it was fully formed, glancing sideways at Brin. She still didn't know what had really happened during the assault on Manticore. It was one of a thousand questions she wanted to ask Zack; she just hoped he'd tell her. Suddenly she registered the rest of his sentence and frowned. "Wait, who's Alec?" 

"An X5 from the Washington facility; he escaped when it burned down," Zack explained. He lowered his voice slightly. "He's Ben's twin." Syl's eyebrows lifted in surprise; after a moment she bit her lip and glanced out the window again. She traced its edging, the glass cool beneath her fingertips. 

"Zack..." She swallowed, didn't meet his eyes though she could feel them watching her in the mirror. Her voice was a near-whisper. "Ben is dead, isn't he?" Zack gripped the steering wheel. 

"That's right." There was a short pause. "How did you know?" 

"I saw it on the news a few years back... what he was doing. Then it stopped. And last year- the assault on Manticore... I asked Max about him and she just got this _look_ in her eyes. It scared me." She didn't say anything for several moments. "You stopped him, Zack?" 

"No." His voice was pained. "I wasn't around." 

"She killed him," Brin supplied flatly; Syl jumped slightly, having forgotten for a moment that her sister was there. A lump caught in her throat. 

"Who did, Max?" At Brin's nod, Syl closed her eyes briefly. "God, that's horrible," she whispered, blinking back a few tears. "Poor Ben... poor Maxie." 

"It was an objective decision," Brin answered; Syl exchanged a pained look with Zack via the rearview mirror but neither of them said anything. 

"What's wrong with her?" Syl asked when they'd stopped at a gas station outside of Eureka so Brin could use the rest room. 

"Nothing," Zack said stiffly from in front of her; she looked at him for a moment, then slowly turned away. She gazed out the window at the wind sweeping the long grass back from a fence by the side of the road. After a moment she leaned forward. 

"That's a load of crap, Zack," she said suddenly. He turned around and blinked, surprised at what was for her an uncharacteristic outburst. 

"What?" he asked finally. 

"There is so something wrong with her. Does she even care that Ben is dead, or that we're about to risk our lives for some friend of Max's we've never even met?" 

"She thinks that's a tactical mistake," he said. The fact that he ignored her question about Ben was not lost on Syl. "But she's coming with us." 

"She is?" Syl asked, surprised, leaning slowly back against her seat. "I figured she was just tagging along until you figure out what to do with her." 

"Yeah, that's part of it." Zack sighed and stared toward the gas station, where Brin had gone. "She's so..." His words trailed away. 

"Cut off," Syl finished for him. "She's like an automaton." 

"Max always believed that the real Brin was still in there," Zack said slowly. "She always thought the little girl we knew was still alive." 

"I'm not so sure," Syl admitted softly. He nodded. 

"Yeah, me neither." 

"But we have to try," she spoke the thought already forming in his mind. Zack smiled at her. 

"I've missed having you around, Syl," he said. She flashed him a grin. 

"You always say that," and it was true. They just clicked that way, always had. 

  
In the rest room, Brin turned the rusty taps off and stared into the grungy gas station mirror. Her hair was bound high, pulled back straight, her face free of makeup and other inessentials. She slowly brought a hand up and touched her soft cheek. 

"Brinny," she said to the face in the mirror. She could remember a time of hair brushing against her back, of makeup lining her dark eyes and reddening her lips. She smiled and it felt unnatural on her face yet vaguely familiar and good. Slowly, she grasped the elastic that bound her silky black hair and pulled it free; still long, it tumbled over her face and half the length of her shoulder blades. She brushed it away from her eyes and looked at herself in the mirror again. She could remember tossing that hair back, could remembering running her hands through it for no other reason than to feel its satiny texture between her fingers, could remember someone telling her that it was beautiful. She remembered everything... 

  
_"Brinny, did you see it?" Zack asked her, pointing up into the sky. She shouldered her machine gun and stood on tiptoes next to him, trying to see over the ridge, hating not for the first time that she was so much shorter than all of them. Zack glanced down at her and lifted her up easily in his arms, swinging her onto his shoulders. She was afraid for a moment of her new height, then had to stop herself from clapping her hands in delight as she could finally share in what the others could see. The satellite signal light flashed in the night sky just over some nearby cliffs. For a moment she allowed herself to ignore the message it was embedding into her mind and just watched the simple beauty of the stars and sky and the glowing patterns of light and dark. In all her seven years she hadn't seen anything so wonderful. She said something to that effect and saw Max and Syl smiling up at her. _

"That's the signal that will always tell us what to do," Zack explained to Brin, holding her ankles so she wouldn't fall. She felt completely safe. 

"It's pretty, though, too," Max insisted. Zack glanced at her, back up at the sky. There was a short pause as he struggled to ignore the message in the lights, as Brin had done. 

"Yes," he said after a moment. "It's beautiful." 

"Brinny," Syl said; Brin looked down at her sister and saw the flashing lights catching in Syl's half-inch of blonde hair. "Brinny, you're so tall." She and Zack smiled down at Syl and after that they all had to have turns on their big brother's shoulders, until he remembered that they were supposed to be on a mission and made them move out again. 

  
"Brinny," she said again, slowly, into the mirror. She swept the hair back from her face in one fluid motion and her hand came to rest against the back of her neck, on the barcode she knew was there. She tensed. X5-734; she'd forgotten her for a moment. That had been who she was for the last two years... could she really become the carefree girl she used to be again after so much time? Zack didn't think so, she could see it in his eyes, yet he stayed with her, kept trying to bring her former self to the surface with stories and suggestions. _Why?_

A tiny part of her that was still the Brin she could recall whispered out of the shadows of her clouded mind, _He's your brother. You remember what he did; he blames himself. He loves you, no matter who you are. He's not going to give up on you. He didn't want to give you back._ Brin stared into the mirror. 

  
_"Brin, you're going to be alright," Max's voice was shaking with tears. "And someday, no matter what happens, I'm going to come for you. That's a promise." Brin gazed up at her sister, attempted a smile, but failed. She felt so awful, both because of her condition and at the thought of going back to Manticore... and what they would undoubtedly do to her once she got there. _

"Max..." she whispered, barely more than a breath. Max leaned down and pressed a kiss to her wrinkled forehead. Brin caught the feeling, held it in her mind, wondering if she would ever see her sister again, fearing more the probability that when she did she wouldn't remember her- or wouldn't care. She looked at Zack, the tears forming in his eyes, and her heart broke at how much this must be hurting him if he was openly crying. He, too, leaned down and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead. Then they stood and walked away, and the helicopters came to take her to the place she'd once escaped from and never looked back, had never dreamed of looking back to ever again. 

  
Brin looked at the young woman in the mirror. She forced herself to smile again, and her face pinched from not having done it for so long. But she kept the corners of her lips turned up, and very slowly a tiny light crept into her eyes that hadn't been there before. She caught hold of that light, and of the quiet voice in the depths of her mind that still remembered who she was, and held onto them, close to her heart. She took a deep, shaking breath as she gazed at herself; the soldier part of her nodded brusquely, satisfied for the moment. It was a start, at least. 

  
  
Author's Note: Well, I can't give you a reunion of all the surviving escapees because I refuse to make up X5s, but hopefully I can give you the next best thing- a mini reunion!! I hoped you liked my Syl characterization! Again, PLEASE review this and visit my website if you haven't yet- http://members.tripod.com/~Ashantai/DarkAngel/X5Resource.html Thanks!


	4. Chapter 4

For spoilers, pairings, disclaimers, etc., see Chapter 1 

X5 Resource - http://members.tripod.com/~Ashantai/DarkAngel/X5Resource.html 

  
ANTE OFFICIUM - Chapter 4 

Syl threaded her fingers together and slipped them behind her neck, staring out the window at the landscape she could see perfectly despite the darkness of the night. She drummed her fingers absently against her head and resisted the urge to whistle. She was supposed to be getting some shut-eye, but when she couldn't sleep she _really_ couldn't sleep. 

"No, it isn't that," she tuned in to Zack's voice on the payphone they had stopped at; it was several metres away from the car but she could hear him loud and clear. "I just don't want to- Yes. Yes. Yes. No! Max..." He paused. "I know. Yes, I do. Of course, and we will, I just want to be sure that-" Another pause; she could almost see him rolling his eyes. "I _know_ you are, but _I_ want to be sure, okay? I just- Yes. Yes. Yes. No! Max..." He paused. 

"Oh my God!" Syl exclaimed suddenly as she realized with horror that he was starting all over again; Zack turned toward her and his voice fell away for a moment in surprise. He put his hand over the receiver. 

"Go to sleep!" he called, then in a lower voice, to Max, "No one." 

"Thanks," Syl muttered. She rolled her eyes and tuned Zack's voice out. She fidgeted again, turning in the uncomfortable seat of the SUV, knowing they had a big day ahead of them but unable to close her eyes for more than a few seconds. 

"What is wrong?" Brin asked from in front of her, sounding almost exasperated; Syl turned and met her sister's eyes through the darkness. She grinned, glad to see her awake. 

"I can't sleep," she stated the obvious. 

"Really," Brin answered in a near-mutter; Syl's eyebrows lifted. 

"Was that sarcasm?" she asked; Brin blinked, frowned slightly. 

"No..." she said, causing Syl to laugh softly. She leaned forward and rested her arms against the corner of the two seats in front of her, tilting her head to the side at her sister thoughtfully. 

"How much do you remember?" she asked. "I mean, really." 

"I told you," Brin said, annoyed. "I remember all of it." 

"Do you remember that day in the woods?" Syl asked softly. "That day our brother died?" Brin's eyes shifted to the right. 

  
_Brin stared down at the body of her brother; blood trickled from the side of his mouth. The nine other children gathered around him gazed with a mixture of confusion and fear on their faces, their machine guns slung over their shoulders. Later would come the revelation that their brother wouldn't be coming back to his bed, the shaking of Syl's shoulders even as Zack reassured her that it wasn't her fault, the tears on her cheeks. But for now, they just stared down at his body and didn't understand._

  
"Of course," Brin said, her voice emotionless. 

"I'm afraid of ravens," Syl admitted; slowly, her sister turned to her and nodded. 

"Me too." She opened her mouth, wanting to say something more, but uncertain of how to express what she wanted to say, or even if it was a good idea to do so. Some instinct and the look in Syl's dark eyes told her to just blurt it out despite her uncertainties. 

"It wasn't your fault," she said; something flashed through Syl's eyes before she glanced away. 

"We weren't trained to miss," she said softly. 

"It wasn't your fault," Brin repeated, positive of her conviction but not sure quite why. "It was the raven's." 

"That's not very logical," Syl said softly; her sister blinked and looked unnerved for several seconds. Syl studied Brin for a long moment before she stretched out her hand, holding it out in front of her. Brin stared at it for nearly a full minute, hesitated, then slowly reached out and touched her sister's soft fingers tentatively. 

  
_"Hold my hand," Syl whispered, reaching out in the darkness they could all see through easily, her fingers outstretched in the space between their beds. Brin took her shaking hand, squeezed it. _

"It's okay," she whispered reassuringly. "Do you want me to get Zack?" 

"No, he'll just worry." Her teeth were chattering; the seizure was rocking her entire body. She was cold. "Let him sleep." Brin gave her hand another tight squeeze. "It won't be much longer yet," Syl added; she had always been a brave one. 

"It's okay, baby sister," Brin whispered, stroking Syl's fingers gently in her own. "Don't worry. Try and go to sleep." A small smile played at the corners of her sister's lips and her dark eyes gazed at Brin, full of warmth and affection. 

"I love you, Brinny," she whispered. Brin smiled as Syl let out a small sigh, her shaking finally starting to subside. She reached over and stroked her sister's half inch of blonde hair, then kissed her own fingers and pressed them to her forehead tenderly. 

"I love you, too." 

  
Syl registered the sound of Zack dialling another number at the payphone as she and Brin sat there, each holding tentatively onto the other's hand. Syl gazed at her sister, and saw the confusion in Brin's eyes mixed with hesitant contentment and wonder as she stared at their entwined hands. Syl smiled and gave her delicate fingers a quick squeeze. _Maybe Max is right,_ she thought, daring for a moment to hope. _Maybe there is a chance to get her back._

"Krit?" she heard Zack's voice after a moment; she brightened at the mention of their brother's name and Brin looked something that vaguely resembled pleased. 

"You too," Zack continued. "No, I actually wanted to know if you can leave Helena for a few days. Yeah, now. A mission." There was a short pause. "Rescue operation for a friend of Max's. Me, you, Syl, Max, Brin- yeah, Brin. So did I, but she got out. Yes. Yes. What? I don't know, you'll have to ask her. No, she and Brin are asleep right now." 

"No I'm not!" Syl called out; there was a pause as Zack turned away, ignoring her. 

"Seattle. Leave tonight, okay? We're close; we should be there early tomorrow afternoon. Yeah. Okay, great, I'll see you then. You too. Bye." Zack hung up the phone and shoved his hands in his pockets like he always did when he'd completed a task; Syl watched him cross the abandoned gas station parking lot and climb back into the SUV. Brin let go of Syl's hand before Zack reentered the car, glancing away uncomfortably. Syl tried to focus on the progress they'd just made and not on that particular disappointment. 

"Krit," she said to Zack as he started the car, smiling at him. He glanced at her in the rearview mirror as she fell back against her seat, buckling her seatbelt. 

"Krit," he repeated, nodding. He pulled out of the parking lot and started down the darkened highway. Syl drummed her fingers against the window and sighed. 

"Turn on the radio," she said after a moment. Zack having given up on her getting any sleep, obliged and fiddled with the knob until there was more music than static. It was a pre-Pulse station. 

  
_     -shine, lollipops and rainbows, 

    That's how this refrain goes, 

    so come on, join in... everybody! 

    Sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows, 

    Everything that's wonderful-
_

  
Zack's eyes almost fell out of his face. He dived at the radio and the car swerved slightly to the right in his hurry to change the station. Syl stifled a laugh behind her hand as the sickly-sweet song was replaced by rock music. She glanced at Brin, but she was ignoring them, gazing out the window again; Syl wondered if she was looking because she had nothing else to do, or if it was because she had a new appreciation for the outside world, being out of Manticore now. _Maybe a little of both,_ she decided. She glanced at Zack's hands, wondering if he would be tapping along to this new selection of very guy music, but he was as calm and stoic as ever; she rolled her eyes, stared at her two boring siblings, and glanced at the clock. They still had seven hours to go; suddenly she found herself wishing she'd brought a book along on this trip. 

  
"How long until they get here?" Logan asked, smiling slightly as he saw Max glance down at the clock on her beeper for the thousandth time. 

"Any minute," she said excitedly. "Zack said one o'clock; it's 12:59." Suddenly she sprung up as she heard the sound of a door opening. 

"It's just Mrs. Moreno," Logan explained as she stared at the closed front door. She sank back into the sofa, disappointed. He smiled reassuringly at her. "Don't worry, they'll be here." 

"How is it you're in the penthouse but she lives up there?" Max asked him; Logan sat there for a moment, staring at her. Finally he opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by his door opening. He stifled a sigh; X5s just didn't know how to knock. 

"Syl!" Max squealed, throwing herself at her sister as soon as she was inside the door, her question forgotten. Syl grinned and hugged her back tightly, then let her go and gazed at her, smiling softly. She hadn't seen her since the assault on Manticore, when she'd thought her baby sister had been killed; but now, here she was. Tears stung her eyes. 

"I'm okay," Max said gently, reading her mind. Syl reached out and stroked Max's hair away from her face, then nodded and headed further into the apartment, surveying the place. She turned back to Max and saw her little sister's eyes opened as wide as saucers. Syl followed Max's gaze to Brin, who stepped through the doorway uncomfortably, her eyes flitting around the room, avoiding Max's gaze. 

"Oh my God..." Max breathed, tears spilling down her cheeks. Brin looked at her, blinked. 

  
_"452, 734, you're up," the kind voice of the nurse came through to them. Max took Brin's hand and they hurried past the rest of their siblings into the office; Eva sat in a chair, the razor buzzing at her head. Max shivered beside Brin, hating the sound of machines that reminded her too much of surgical equipment. They took their seats in the two unoccupied chairs beside Eva's. _

"I think mine was the longest this time," Max boasted as a soldier took another electrical razor to her head. From next to her, Brin rolled her eyes. 

"Yours is always the longest, Maxie," she said. "Your hair grows fast." 

"It certainly does," the soldier muttered, gripping Max's forehead to hold her still. "I can't wait until you kids are old enough to not have to come and see me anymore." He frowned. "Of course, then there'll just be the X6s and 7s behind you, I suppose." He tapped Max on the head. "There, you're done." Brin jumped out of her chair with Max and Eva joined them; they went outside where the rest of their siblings were waiting and touched each other's heads. 

"I love it when it's first shaved," Eva said softly, stroking her hand over Brin's head. 

"Me too," Max agreed. "What did he mean, when we're older and we won't have to come and see him anymore?" 

"I don't know," Eva admitted. "Maybe when we're a certain age they stop shaving our heads." Brin smiled at the thought. 

"I can't wait," she said. "I'm going to grow my hair right down to here." She indicated her lower back with her hand, and all three girls giggled at the thought of hair so long. Brin revelled in the sound; it wasn't often they were able to laugh in the daytime. 

  
"Max," Brin said flatly. Max shifted her eyes to Zack, standing in the doorway behind his sister; he shrugged and entered the room, closing the door behind him. Max gave him a quick hug and then turned back to Brin; tentatively, she walked over and wrapped her arms around the woman's shoulders. It was a stiff, awkward embrace, but Brin managed to return it uncertainly. Logan stood as Max released her sister. 

"Hey, there, Logan," Syl said warmly, giving him an affectionate punch on the shoulder. "Nice place." 

"Thanks," he said, smiling at her and resisting the urge to rub his shoulder. He turned to Max. 

"This is Brin," she explained, smiling big. Logan's brows lifted in surprise but he stepped forward and extended a hand politely. 

"Pleased to meet you," he said. "I'm Logan Cale." Brin took his hand and shook it slowly. 

"You're supposed to be dead," she told him; the other four people in the room paused. Brin let go of Logan's hand. "I'm... sorry. I didn't mean-" 

"It's okay," Zack cut her off. He leaned against the desk and crossed his arms over his chest, just daring Logan to protest. Max frowned. Syl glanced between the two men, feeling the same tension she had the last time they'd been together, only now it was stronger. Max slowly sank into an armchair and Syl perched on the back of a sofa; she patted the spot beside her and Brin glanced around before tentatively taking a seat. Logan walked over to his computer and pulled up some files; Zack tracked his movements without really meaning to, assessing his actions, evaluating him. In her armchair, Max hugged her legs up to her chin and watched Brin with a mixture of hope and awe on her face. 

"You know what survivalists were?" Logan asked them after a moment, turning away from his computer to face the group of X5s. Zack and Brin both nodded. 

"Well I don't," Syl said. Logan turned to her. 

"In the twentieth century, there were some citizens of this country who believed that American society was just waiting to collapse, and that they would have to fight for their own survival." 

"Smart people," Syl remarked. "That's exactly what happened." 

"Yeah, except unfortunately most people before the Pulse considered them crazy," Logan said. "When the government broke down, a lot of them fled to Canada and Mexico, or overseas when it was still possible. The rest of them holed up in private military compounds, waiting for a better future that never came." 

"Where are they now?" Syl asked. 

"Some of them are still in their facilities, in isolated locations scattered throughout the country. Others got themselves out of America years ago." 

"What's your point?" Zack asked; Logan's eyes flitted to him, slightly annoyed. Syl watched them curiously, her eyes shifting to Max, who just shrugged and looked slightly annoyed. 

"I tracked a military convoy via police hover drones and an Iraqi spy satellite; it was leaving the area around Joshua's house the night he disappeared. They ended up about ten miles outside of Yakima, at an abandoned survivalist installation. It's perfect for their operation- it's in unfriendly terrain and it has cells and labs and a mess hall; it's an easily-defendable, self-contained compound that would be perfect for the detainment of prisoners." 

"And it's right near Seattle, transgenic central," Max added. "No one will bother them." 

"Even people nowadays know not to go near a survivalist camp," Logan agreed. "Trespassers are traditionally shot on sight." 

"They sound like nice folks," Syl remarked dryly. 

"Like I said, most people considered them to be lunatics before the Pulse." 

"This guy White's smart," Zack said solemnly. He glanced at Max. "I called Krit in. He should be here before morning." Her eyes lit up at this and Syl smirked at Zack, remembering their earlier conversation. He pointedly ignored her. 

"This just gets better and better," Max exclaimed happily; her smile faltered slightly. "I just wish it didn't have to be under these circumstances." 

"We'll get him back," Zack said; she nodded, glad of his reassuring presence. 

"Maybe you should call Alec over," Logan suggested. He glanced at Zack. "To go over your plan. I've got blueprints of the facility right here, I'll just print them for you." 

"Thanks, Logan," Max said. 

"No problem." He smiled at her and she stood, keeping a safe distance from him as she headed for the phone to dial Alec's number. 

  
When Alec arrived Syl was introduced to him, and she found that his appearance unnerved her more than she had expected, even though Zack had prepared her for him and she hadn't ever seen Ben since the night of the escape. Still, though, it was difficult to look at someone who was identical to her dead brother. 

They ordered in Chinese food at about three o'clock in the morning, almost two hours after Logan had finally gone to bed, and Krit arrived shortly after the food did. Krit hugged Max and Syl, slapped Zack fondly on the shoulder, made a fuss over Brin, and shook hands with Alec warily, gazing sadly at what his brother would have looked like had he seen him anytime in the last twelve years. He was aware that he was making Alec uncomfortable, and tried to force himself to ignore the man's appearance. He threw himself onto the sofa beside Syl and yawned. 

"I've been driving for thirteen hours," he complained. 

"Oh, poor baby," she sympathized, tilting her takeout box at him. "Want some chow mein?" 

"Yeah," he said, grabbing a pair of disposable chopsticks and digging into the box. He looked around the room, passing his dark eyes over the faces of his brothers and sisters- and Alec; Krit didn't quite know how he fit yet, but he certainly wasn't a stranger. He'd been through what they had; more, truthfully. His eyes halted on Max and he gazed at her, overjoyed to see her safe and alive. 

"This is nice," Krit remarked softly. Five pairs of eyes locked on him and Max smiled. 

"It is," she agreed. "See, Zack? The X5 reunion I've been talking about all this time?" She gestured her chopsticks around the room. "This is a good start." Zack suddenly laughed, loud and big and uninhibited. Krit and Syl's mouths gaped open and Brin exchanged a bemused look with Alec. 

"I've been waiting for you to do that for twelve years," Syl said to him, after she was finally able to close her mouth again. Zack's smile faded and he looked slightly uncomfortable. He reached down and picked up the plans of White's facility. 

"Okay, break's over," he said brusquely. "Let's continue planning the mission." There were good-natured groans all around and a huge yawn from Krit before they reluctantly set down their takeout boxes and turned toward Zack. 

"Can I say something before we start this again?" Alec asked; they all looked at him. "I think I should be planning this mission." Looks were exchanged around the room; Zack glanced at Max, clearly unimpressed. She let him know she felt exactly the same way by rolling her eyes. 

"Are you serious?" she asked Alec, slightly amused. 

"Yes." There was no grin. "I have more training than all of you," he pointed out. "Logically, I should be the one planning this mission- and leading it." Everyone stared at him except Brin, who just looked curious as to what their response would be. 

"I don't care how much training you have, I just met you," Syl said, popping a piece of sweet and sour chicken into her mouth and chewing it. She swallowed. "I'm not following you." 

"Yeah, Zack's our leader," Krit agreed immediately. 

"He's not _my_ leader," Alec protested. He looked at Max for help. "Come on, you know I'm right." 

"Alec, there's no _way_ I'm letting you lead me into battle," she told him bluntly. 

"That hurts, Max." He was half-joking. Zack, who hadn't said anything, picked up the plans of White's facility and set them down on the coffee table in front of everyone. He gave them all a look that said clearly, _Time to stop talking. Let's do this._ Alec sulked for a moment about his lack of support, but then rolled his eyes and turned grudgingly to listen to Zack. 

  
By 4:30 in the morning there was a lot more yawning than planning going on. 

"You guys should go to bed," Max spoke up. "Big day ahead of us tomorrow." 

"Yeah," Syl agreed. "I'm really tired." She ignored Zack's pointed look that said she should have listened to him before and slept in the car. 

"There isn't enough room for any of you at my place," Max said apologetically. "My sofa's really uncomfortable and I have a roommate." 

"Your place?" Syl sounded confused. "Aren't you and Logan..?" She trailed off; Max glanced away and Zack watched her reaction. 

"We're not like that," she said finally; Alec opened his mouth to comment on that but thought better of it when she glared dangerously at him. 

"Oh." Syl exchanged a look with Krit, both of them remembering that she and Logan had been 'like that' last year. 

"Well, I guess I'll be going," Alec announced, standing and grabbing his jacket. 

"Don't be late tomorrow," Zack said; Alec rolled his eyes. 

"Don't worry, _sir,"_ he said. Zack frowned at him. 

"He'll be good," Max reassured him after Alec was gone. She added under her breath, "Or I'll kick his ass like it's never been kicked before." Syl laughed from across from her. 

"You guys are hilarious," she said cheerfully. "I've had so much fun watching you all night." Her laugh dissolved into a yawn. 

"Thanks," Max said dryly. 

"Don't worry about us," Syl told her after a moment. "We can just crash here." She gestured around to indicate the general area of Logan's apartment. Krit nodded his agreement. 

"Will you actually sleep this time?" Brin asked, the first words she's spoken in hours. Syl turned to her and smiled. 

"If I recall correctly, _I_ was never the one with the sleeping problem." All of Max's siblings turned to her warily, remembering long nights with not enough sleep when they were children. 

"You're not going to stay up all night eating or reading or anything, are you?" Krit asked tentatively, stifling a yawn. 

"Hey," she protested. "It isn't my fault I was designed that way, and if Jondy was here she'd be defending me." Syl smiled, rolled her eyes. Zack cleared his throat at the mention of Jondy and stood, making to head for the bathroom. Max fixed him with a look. 

"Zack, what happened with you guys?" she asked him before he could get away. "Last I heard you told me you'd 'split up.' How did you manage that? They seemed to be having a lot of fun living together when I talked to them." 

"They knew it was safer to stay apart," he said after a moment. 

"Yeah, right. Jondy's exactly like me." Max was getting suspicious; Zack slowly sat down again. Everyone was looking at him, even Brin, waiting to see how he would respond. 

"Max..." He hesitated, trying to think of a way to get out of this. She just stared at him. 

"Tell us," she said softly, her eyes full of hope. "Please." Zack looked at her. 

  
_"No." Jondy took a step back from him as though he'd hurt her, shaking her head in disbelief. "No, you're wrong." _

"I'm sorry, Jondy," he whispered, his voice filled with pain he couldn't explain to her without her hating him. 

"I want to see him." She was always so stubborn; why did she have to make everything so difficult? Why did she have to be so wonderfully and horribly individual? 

"White's men were already there." There, tear another part of her heart out; what does it matter how she feels if it will keep her safe? _his internal voice mocked him bitterly. Zack reached out to touch her but she slapped him away. A moment later she threw herself into his arms, blaming herself for her brother's death, making it worse for both of them. Why did she have to make it worse? Why did he have to love her so much?_ Send her away, send her away... _She was scaring him. _

"Get a car and go to Pennsylvania," he told her. She hugged him again, not knowing how much she should hate him. "Go," he managed. Please, _his mind begged her silently. He looked at her, willing her to understand something he could never tell her and still remain her brother after doing so. "Just go."_

  
Slowly, after a moment, he reluctantly told them all in a soft voice what he'd done, unable to look at them. When he was finished speaking, Krit and Syl glanced away painfully, and Max's jaw dropped open in disbelief; a flash of something entered Brin's eyes but it was gone almost as soon as it came. 

"You didn't," she breathed. Zack couldn't look at her. "You made them think..." She trailed off, her eyes filling with tears. 

"I stand by my decision," he said, but his heart wasn't in it. Max shook her head in horror, not believing that he might actually not be able to see that he had crossed way over the line here. She stood and walked over to him. 

"Zack," she said firmly; he looked up at her from the chair. She gazed at him for a long moment before gathering herself and sitting next to him. "I never had a mother or a father or real friends growing up," she began softly. "I mean, Original Cindy and Logan were the first people I ever told the truth about myself." Zack's jaw hardened with obvious distaste for that particular decision, but she ignored him and continued, "All I had was you and the others, and you took that away from me." 

"Max..." He was visibly pained at her words, but she knew he needed to hear this. Krit and Syl were looking at each other and their expressions were something between slight fear, deep disapproval, and intense hope. Brin was watching with curiosity and something that vaguely resembled yearning. 

"You took them away from me then and now you've done the same to Jondy and Zane." Her voice was soft, tender, not meant to be a challenge to his authority though it was hard for him not to take it that way. He looked at her. "It's not right, Zack. It's not _fair."_ He knew how to respond to that. 

"This isn't about fair, Max, this is about-" 

"I know, I know, safety," she bit out angrily. Syl and Krit winced at her disrespectful tone and lowered their eyes; Brin wasn't reacting either way, she just looked curious at the emotional display. Max raised her eyes to his, so hopeful and sad that it almost made him squirm. "Did you ever think that we might prefer to be together and at risk than apart and safe, Zack?" 

"That's not your decision to make." He sounded so sure that it scared her. 

"Like hell it isn't," she said softly. She laid a hand on his arm. "We're not children anymore." 

"You're soldiers!" He was becoming angry. Wasn't he guilty enough about Jondy and Zane without her making it worse? "And I'm your CO. End of story." 

"Come on, Zack, you know that's not true. Can't you just let yourself understand for once?" Max asked softly. She remembered him crying when they gave Brin back to Manticore, saving Tinga's son when he didn't have to, shooting himself to save her life... "I know you love us, Zack." 

But he didn't respond; he was trying to fight off a painful memory of just a short time ago that Max's words had brought back to him. 

  
_"Let us stay together," Jondy said, half-defiant and half-begging, her blue eyes brimmed with tears. Beside her Zane looked hopeful but non-confrontational. Zack sighed and shook his head. _

"No, it's too dangerous. That's non-negotiable, Jondy." 

"Can't you understand?" Her voice was bitter. 

"Jondy, that isn't the point," he ground out. "Look, I know what's best for you, okay?" 

"How the hell do you figure that? You haven't seen me in ten years, Zack!" 

  
"Zack," Max called him back to the present, squeezed his hand. He jerked away and stood in one motion; Krit and Syl's heads raised to watch him, following him with their eyes as he left the room and headed for the kitchen. When he was gone they turned in unison to Max, who stared after Zack with both anger and concern on her face. 

"Wow," Krit remarked after a short silence, his voice slightly awed. "You almost reached him." 

"Almost," Syl said shortly, turning away and staring out the window. It had started to rain. 

Max look at her sister sadly, knowing that Syl would never dream of challenging Zack outright, even if she thought he was making a mistake; she was too much of a conformist, and she valued the importance of a leader saving face in front of his troops. Max did, too, but not above the chance to remind him he was a human being as well as a soldier if he forgot. She'd noticed the same non-confrontational reaction to Zack in Tinga once, and that made her suspect that she- and maybe Jondy- were the only ones who ever questioned his authority. 

"He's getting soft," Brin's remark came a moment later. Max turned away from her and heaved a sigh; that hadn't gone well at all. 

She felt Krit lean over to touch her shoulder and turned to him, meeting his dark eyes reluctantly. They were full of understanding. Max smiled; he was still her brother even after all this time, she realized, would always know her as only he and the others could. She sighed inwardly. Why couldn't Zack allow himself to understand that just once? Krit smiled at her, yawned. 

"Logan has a guest room down the hall," Max told them. "One bed." There was an uneasy exchange of looks amongst the four of them. 

"I nominate Krit because he drove for thirteen hours," Syl said kindly, in a soft voice, trying not to focus on what just happened, forcing herself away from the window. 

"I also nominate me," Krit spoke up, eliciting a good-natured punch on the shoulder from his sister. There was silence for a moment before Max smiled at him. 

"Go to bed," she said; he rose thankfully. 

"Goodnight," he addressed the room; he turned but hesitated and faced Max again, smiling tenderly at her. She gazed into Krit's dark eyes curiously. 

"For a minute there we had a brother instead of a CO," he said softly, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder. Syl glanced over at them in spite of herself and stared longingly at the door Zack had exited through before she shook it away and turned back to the rain again. 

Krit smiled. "Nice work, Maxie." 

  
Author's Note: Okay, I meant to have them go on the mission this chapter but there was some stuff I wanted to resolve first (and there still is, unfortunately), and I didn't get a chance to do it in this chapter... sorry! Next time, I promise! (hopefully) :)


	5. Chapter 5

For spoilers, pairings, disclaimers, etc., see Chapter 1 

  
ANTE OFFICIUM - Chapter 5 

Zack said the ride to Yakima would take two and a half hours, so they took a van and left at 2330; after about an hour they were all bored except Zack, who was just focussed, and Brin, who was as indifferent as ever. Logan was squished in the very back seat with Syl and Alec, and none of them looked too thrilled about that. Max was sitting with Brin in the middle section of the van, and Krit was up in front with Zack. Logan tried to make conversation for the first half hour of the drive, but no one really seemed to want to talk and finally he gave up. 

For most of the trip they sat in silence, each consumed in their own thoughts about the upcoming mission. Even Alec was unusually quiet, and he had only made one sarcastic comment to Max the entire time they were driving. To her annoyance, she actually missed their usual banter- it would have lightened the mood and given her something else to think about, at least. He hadn't even tried it with anyone else. 

"Where did you get the contact number?" Max asked Brin gently; behind them, Syl and Krit glanced up, curious about this themselves. "Zack changed it after you were captured." 

"That doesn't matter right now," Zack said immediately from the driver's seat, giving Max a look in the rearview mirror. It clearly said, _We'll talk about that later._ She watched a flicker of some emotion passed through Brin's eyes at the question and frowned at both of them. But Brin didn't notice, too busy trying to fight off a memory she had only just recalled. 

  
_"Come here, X5-734," Renfro said; she crossed the room and saluted. "Have you memorized the contact number I extracted from X5-656?" She tried not to think about how that number had been 'extracted' and nodded brusquely. _

"Yes, ma'am." 

"And the code?" 

"Yes, ma'am." Her eyes flitted to the window behind Renfro, where Zack was being kept alive on machines, a human donor bank. Some tiny part of her that was still Brin and still loved him felt a stab of pain. 

"Your next assignment will be to bring in the remaining seven X5s still at large using that contact number," Renfro told her. 

"Yes, ma'am," she responded immediately. Renfro motioned for two of her men to approach. 

"Where is X5-452?" she asked the first one. 

"Sparring with the rest of her class, ma'am." 

"Get her and bring her here," Renfro ordered. He nodded and left the room; she turned to the other man. "Find me a file photo of Eyes Only and the post-mortem shots of X5-656 and 493." Brin had to stop herself from drawing in a sharp breath as Renfro said this. Ben was dead? After the second man left Renfro turned to where Zack was being held and smiled, slow and unnerving and almost evil. 

"I think it's time we gave Max a little family reunion." She glanced backward as if just remembering the other woman's presence in the room. "Oh, you're dismissed, 734." 

  
Max deeply wanted to know the answer to her question, but the looks on both Brin and Zack's faces told her not to pursue it. She stifled a sigh and checked her watch; 0117- they would be there in a little over half an hour. She turned and met Logan's eyes, wanting to reach out and take his hand, but of course that was impossible. Instead she forced herself away from him and stared out the window; a light rain was streaking the glass. Beside her Brin was looking out her own window; Max suddenly had the urge to reach over and give her sister a huge, but she resisted it. 

Waiting was never something Max had been good at, especially when she was waiting for something that could be dangerous. But when they arrived at the outskirts of the Yakima survivalist compound ahead of schedule, at 0140, waiting wasn't an option. The guards didn't change shifts until 0230, and it wouldn't be safe to risk breaching the perimeter before then. She watched Zack climb out the van, probably to psych himself up for the mission by himself, and she leaned her head back against the side of the van, sighing inwardly. 

  
Zack leaned against a tree and took a deep breath of the cold night air. He stared up at the blinking stars, finding the North one without meaning to, tracking his location. He had to work to see their beauty; seeing their tactical advantage was easier. 

  
_"Do you think the stars are bigger up there?" Zane, his face unusually pensive as he gazed up through the window at the sky. _

"Why would they be bigger?" Zack asked, looking at him. They were sitting on their beds in the quiet barracks, their siblings sleeping around them, even Max and Jondy for once, though they'd be up in an hour or so. 

"I don't know." Zane shrugged. "One of the nurses said that they're actually huge balls of fire. Did you know that, Zack?" 

"She was just kidding," Zack said, because he didn't know. It sounded like a joke to him. 

"Oh," the child took this as fact, as everything Zack said was to his siblings. He stared up at the stars. "Well, whatever they are, they're pretty," the boy said softly. Zack smiled over at him, nodded. 

"Yeah." 

"Zack?" 

"Yes?" 

"I love you," Zane said; he had always been a child who could easily express his emotions, though the guards and the nurses- and most of all Lydecker- discouraged emotions. 

"Me, too," Zack said, laying a hand briefly on his shaved head in affection. The hair was bristly and soft at the same time. 

  
Zack glanced away from the sky and let his breath out slowly, watching it turn to light steam in the February air. He thought about the mission ahead tensely; if he'd had a heart it would have been heavy with the duty before him. He thought of the five people he had to protect; brothers and sisters and Alec, family too though in a different way. He thought of Max, the littlest, the rogue, the one he'd tried to leave alone for years after the escape but who, once he'd met her again, he couldn't stay away from. 

  
_Zack paired his siblings off, sending them in opposite directions, scattering them to increase their chances of survival. He had to work fast, but he didn't know how many of them he'd see again. There was no time for goodbyes. Finally it was just Jondy and Max left. He motioned for them to leave together, head south. Jondy nodded, but Max shook her head defiantly. She stared at him, standing her ground, and it made him both panicked and proud. They had no time for this, but he didn't want to be alone either. Zack glared at her, jerked his hand again in the order to move out._ Get the hell out of here, _his eyes told her firmly. If Jondy had insisted on staying with Zack also, and hadn't reached over and pushed Max to her feet, it might have taken too long to force them away and they all would have been caught instead of just him. But Jondy did push Max to her feet, and they took of running; Zack watched Max go for a moment, pained, but at least she was safe, and one day he knew he would see her again. _

  
Zack immediately saw that someone had pried his lock open, and prepared himself for a fight as he slowly entered the apartment he'd been staying in for the past two weeks. He saw a young woman through the darkness, facing away from him, going through his drawers; she wasn't going to find any money in there. He heard a rattling and frowned; why would she want his tryptophan? He was putting a stop to this right now; he moved around silently behind the thief and grabbed her up in his arms, choking her. He was about to ask her what the hell she was doing there when she spoke. 

"Zack!" her voice was choked; he froze. "It's me, Max!" Instantly he released her, stepping back, uncertain as to what he should do. She wasn't supposed to know his identity, and he was angry that he'd been discovered, wondered how; she turned to him and her eyes widened when she recognized him. 

"You?" she sounded sick, as though she thought she should have known before. "You're Zack?" Not knowing what else to do, he nodded. Max threw herself into his arms, surprising him; he slowly brought his arms up and encircled them around her, holding her tightly. He could feel her smile against his shoulder. Zack stifled a sigh; it had been too long. 

  
He thought of Syl, a little girl who grew up too fast a long time ago for a lot of reasons and who had always understood him like even their other siblings couldn't. 

  
_With a swift movement, Zack deposited his little sister on the sparring mat. She laid there for a moment, surprised, then grinned up at him. She was missing a tooth, and Zack knew she was cute even though he'd never heard the word. He reached down to pull her to her feet. _

"Don't go easy on her, 599. That'll only make her weak." Lydecker. 

"I was only-" 

"Don't," the man said. Slowly, casting an apologetic look at Syl, Zack withdrew his hand, and she stood on her own, waiting for Lydecker to leave. He didn't. 

"Again," he said. They resumed attack positions, and fought again, and this time Zack didn't pull his punches because he knew Lydecker could tell when he did it. He was angry; Syl was a year younger than he was. She shouldn't have had to spar with him. It wasn't fair. 

Syl went crashing to the ground as he struck her, and there was blood coming from her nose when she looked up at him, and tears in her eyes. Immediately, instinctively, Zack knelt at her side and touched her bald head tenderly as she wiped at the blood on her face. 

"Stand up, 599," Lydecker said harshly. Zack took his sister's hand and stood, hauling her up with him. Lydecker stared at him angrily. "Let go of her." Zack hesitated for a moment before releasing her, and looked defiantly but calmly at the man all his brothers and sisters feared. "Again," Lydecker said. Syl took a deep, shaky breath and assumed an attack position against Zack. He looked at her, saw her tiny body, the blood on her face, the look of determination in her eyes. And something else... fear. She was afraid of him, afraid of what he would do to her! This floored Zack, made him feel sick to his stomach. He turned to Lydecker. 

"It's not a fair fight," he said. Lydecker laughed in a way that made Zack's skin prickle. 

"You think everyone she's going to fight will be her size, with her experience?" he scoffed. "Most of them will be bigger than her, so she might as well get used to it with you." Zack didn't move and Lydecker's eyes narrowed and he repeated, "Again." 

"It's not fair," Zack insisted. Lydecker sighed, jerked his head at one of the guards by the door. He walked over, a big man with a cruel face. 

"Take him to solitary," Lydecker said, for what must have been the hundredth time in Zack's life. He'd been the first successful X5, and he was the model of Manticore training and discipline, but they couldn't figure out his overwhelmingly protective instinct when it came to his siblings, because they hadn't designed him to feel that way. Little did they know, Zack was a human being as well as a soldier. They didn't like it, and they took every opportunity to try to break him of that protective tendency. But Zack had sworn longer ago than he could remember that he wouldn't let that happen, and he would not break his word. As they dragged him off, his siblings watched him worriedly and he looked at Syl's face, streaked with blood and now tears. He smiled at her, gave her a cheerful wave, causing Lydecker's mouth to drop open in fury, and she brightened a little before he was taken from the room and lost sight of her. Her smile stayed with him through his week in solitary confinement. 

  
He thought of Krit, a tough little boy with a soft way of speaking and a tough man who managed to hold on to his warm personality despite the world that sought to take it from him. 

  
_"Zack, what happened?" Krit asked him, putting an arm around Syl's shaking shoulders. Ten of them who had gone out this morning as eleven had just been subjected to an angry debriefing with Lydecker, but they were safe in the barracks now. Krit didn't understand what was going on, none of them did. The siblings who hadn't been with them looked fearfully at Syl's shaking shoulders. Zak could see on Krit's face that he didn't know why Syl was crying, or why he wanted to cry as well, and it was making him angry and scared at the same time. His fists were clenched even as he tried to comfort his sister. _

"It's not your fault," Krit soothed. Tears slipped down her cheeks and she buried her face in his shoulder. Zack watched them, remembered the bird with its beady eyes, the blood trickling from their brother's mouth, and wondered where he was now and when he would be coming back. 

"I don't know," Zack told him softly after a moment, glancing at the other nine who had been with them; Max and Brin stared at him with huge dark eyes full of fear. Krit gaped at him, having never heard those words come out of Zack's mouth before. 

"You don't know?" _he finally managed; Syl's sobs increased and her hands were shaking, but she looked like she didn't know why any more than the rest of them did. Zack gazed at his the two of them, and suddenly it occurred to him that maybe their brother wouldn't be coming back after all._

  
He thought of Brin, a cheerful little girl who always smiled and never judged, a woman lost to him for so long, and finally back now, though he still wasn't sure how much of her had really returned. 

  
_"I don't want to die." A tiny, strained voice, full of innocence; he could hear the girl she used to be in it, and the disease, too. He was terrified. _

"Please..." Brin implored from where she lay exhausted and weak and helpless in Max's arms. "Don't let me die." Slowly, as they reached a red light, Zack turned in the driver's seat, his tears flowing freely, and met Max's eyes. They said everything: pain and agony and fear and understanding and love for Brin and for him were reflected in the depths of her brown eyes. Zack turned away from her because he knew she was right, and because as a leader and a brother, he had no choice. 

  
"We've been running half our lives, Max!" He knew that she should be getting the hell out of the city, and now; the walls were closing in on them fast and soon there would be no room for escape. But he couldn't leave her there; he had to make her understand. "They just keep coming." 

"Taking us down one by one," Max agreed; he looked at her. She knew, that was obvious, but then why wouldn't she leave with him? They'd be safe, or as safe as an X5 could be. He knew the answer, he just didn't want to dwell on it because he disapproved. 

"I'm not _going to let them do to Tinga what they did to Brin," he told her firmly, pointing for emphasis._

  
Zack flinched in pain, staring down at his hands. He didn't want to remember anymore, but his mind had other plans. 

  
_Zack slowly entered the DNA lab with Max, strangely in awe as he gazed around at the countless vials of DNA, each with its own unique barcode. He walked over to the X5 section and stretched his fingers out, his eyes narrowing as he examined first one half-filled tube of green liquid, then another. Max had an almost disgusted expression on her face; she looked like she might be sick. _

"Max, it's you," he said, laying his hand against the one whose barcode read 332960073452. He moved to another, 330417291599. "And me..." He touched 331280315734. "And Brin..." Max was watching him, saying nothing. Lastly, he laid his fingers on the glowing barcode that read 331450074656. "And Tinga." 

"No," Max's firm voice came from behind him. He turned to her. "Tinga's dead." 

  
He swallowed hard, tried to force the painful sounds and images away, but they persisted, torturing him. They would always torture him; it was part of the price he paid for their safety. 

  
_"Withdraw to the perimeter, withdraw to the perimeter," Lydecker's voice came over the comm. Zack started running even before he explained, making sure Max was right behind him. "We've been made," Lydecker continued. "All units, withdraw." _

  
"Max!" Zack screamed as he saw her lifeless body, heard the flatline tone from her heart monitor. Hands were pushing him down; he struggled against them but he was too weak. He ignored the pain in his shoulder and stared fearfully at Max, willing her to open her eyes. 

"Internal paddles," one of the doctors said. 

"Charge to 30." Another doctor. Time seemed to be taking forever. Why were they being so slow? 

"Charged." 

"Clear." 

He watched them administer the paddles directly to her heart, and the jolt of electricity shot through her body. She convulsed slightly but the flatline tone continued. 

"30 again," the second doctor said. The first one prepped the paddles once more. "Clear." They shocked her again, but still the dead sound of the heart monitor droned in the room. Zack watched on, frozen with fear. He saw a woman walk into the room, the same one who had been keeping Tinga in the hideous place where Max had found her- Renfro. Had that only been a few days before? 

"What's her condition?" the woman asked as she gazed at Max, ignoring him. Zack held his breath and put aside his hatred of Renfro for a moment to hope for his sister's recovery. 

"The bullet went clean through," the first doctor said, sounding defeated. "Her right ventricle is collapsed. She's gone." 

  
Zack's jaw hardened at the memory and his hands clenched into fists. He'd already been unable to protect four siblings, and he still didn't know if Brin would become a fifth lost to him. And last year, Max had almost become another victim of his inadequate leadership. It was all his fault; he was the CO, the big brother. It was his responsibility, but he'd failed. He wasn't a good enough leader to save those siblings, and loving them hadn't been enough. But he wasn't going to let it happen again. It was his life's purpose to never let it happen again; it was his mission, and he was not going to fail. Not this time. 

Zack slowly turned and headed for the van, hearing the sounds of a conversation amongst the others but unable to yet make out the words. The doors of the van were open and Max was perched on the passenger seat, legs hanging down; Brin and Alec were inside on the floor, facing the outside, and Krit and Syl were resting in the soft dirt against the wheels, their guns laying next to them. Logan was sitting against a tree a safe distance from Max; Zack had to force down a cruel thought that he could really get used to this virus. As soon as he emerged from the trees, everyone immediately became dead silent, Syl and Krit staring up at him, eyes filled with horror and shining with tears. He froze. 

"What?" 

"You..." Syl's voice was shaking. "You shot yourself?" She slowly got to her feet, wide-eyed. Zack glared dangerously at Max and Logan frowned. 

"I can't believe you didn't tell them," she said incredulously, ignoring his anger; Syl was no longer able to contain her tears and her eyes spilled over. She threw herself into his arms and smacked him lightly in the head at the same time. Alec and Brin exchanged an uncomfortable look. 

"God, Zack!" was all she could manage as she clung to him. "Don't ever love me that much." It seemed a strange thing to say, but she meant it. 

From behind her, Krit just stared at him in shock, intense love, and something between fear and deep respect. Zack glared at Max over Syl's shoulder as he rubbed a hand over her back soothingly. 

"Don't cry," he said. She wiped at her eyes and pulled away from him after a long moment. Reaching out a hand, she ran her fingers through his hair, the only action that had ever calmed him when they were children and he was angry. He reached up and took her hand, lowered it. "It's okay, Syl." 

He squeezed her soft fingers tenderly and after a moment released her. Swallowing hard, she smoothed the last tears from her face and managed a weak smile. Logan watched the exchange curiously, never having witnessed the Zack Max knew before; he could see why she loved him. 

"Zack," Krit's soft voice came reluctantly. He tapped his watch. "It's 0221." 

"Alright, people," Zack said, leaving Syl to come to stand before all his troops. "Listen up." He motioned for Brin to pass him the plans of White's facility and she did so; he spread the piece of paper out before them. 

"We'll breach the perimeter at 0230, when the guards change shifts. Logan will be monitoring us like last time, and watching the outside for any mobilization. Max and I are team one; we'll proceed immediately north to the brig; we'll have Joshua by 0300. Team two, that's Krit and Syl, will use the southwest service corridor to lay charges in the mess and hall and around the generator, which will be accomplished by 0311. Team three, Alec and Brin, will go west to the intelligence database housed in the Medical Bay to copy the hard drive before wiping it clean. Without knowing the exact size of the hard drive we can only estimate how long it will take, but the latest team three should reach their objective will be 0315. With that time frame the charges should be detonated by 0330 and we'll rendezvous back here at 0343." Zack passed his eyes over them, checking that they were all prepared and had the necessary equipment. He stopped at Max, frowned, and reached behind him, holding out a semiautomatic. Logan winced, knowing that was a bad idea. 

"Take it," Zack ordered. 

"No." 

"Max." His voice left no room for argument. _"Take_ it." 

"I won't use it," she said stubbornly. Zack stared at her for several seconds, deeply troubled. Krit and Syl gazed at Max, looking both impressed and disapproving at her rule of no guns. They missed Eva, too, but getting themselves killed wasn't going to bring her back. Logan half-wished that Zack would force her to take the weapon; she'd be safer then. But he knew Zack could never force Max to do anything, as much as he might want to think he could. Sure enough, after a long moment Zack finally swung the extra gun over his own shoulder. He looked at the rest of them. 

"Questions?" 

"Comment," Syl said. They all turned to her and she hesitated, staring at Zack, her thoughts warring between the human side of her that really wanted to say something and the solider who knew it would be improper. Finally her humanity won out and she took a huge breath. 

"Please don't do anything..." She paused, uncertain how to say it, tried again. "If one of us dies-" 

"Syl," Zack tried to stop her, his voice edging toward disapproval and slight pain. She held up a hand to stop him and his eyebrows lifted in surprise. 

"Just leave us that way," she finished lamely; Max and Krit exchanged a look but Zack gazed at her uncomfortably. 

"This isn't going to be like last time," he finally said, firmly. His voice said he wasn't going to let it be like last time, and that scared her. She glanced away. 

"I know... I just wanted to say it," she told him softly. Zack didn't respond and there was a long silence. Krit checked his watch once again. 

"It's 0224," he told Zack gently; their big brother blinked and shook away the tense moment, forcing himself into mission mode again. Max could see the change plainly on his face and was both reassured and troubled by it. 

"Let's move out," he ordered. Max's eyes flew to Logan; she wanted to hug him goodbye, but of course that was impossible. They exchanged a weak smile instead and she could tell that he was as terrified as all of them that this turn out the same as last time. Max forced herself to turn away from him, taking a huge breath and following Zack toward the perimeter fence. Syl picked up her various weapons along with Krit, Brin, and Alec, and she tried to will her hands to stop shaking as the mission began; now there was no turning back... Just like last time. 

  
Author's Note #1: Okay, so as you can probably tell by how this chapter left off, Chapter 6 is the big actiony missiony chapter! Sorry it's taken so long to get there... anyway, I just wanted to resolve some stuff before they went on this hugely dangerous mission... I wanted to get some stuff out in the open so they know it all going in (namely Syl and Krit finding out what really happened that night they took on Manticore and you readers finding out how Brin actually _got_ the contact number). So Chapter 6 will be it, and I'm working hard on it, so it should be out soon!! 

Author's Note #2: It's _extremely_ difficult to keep Zack in character with all those emotionally charged scenes, especially the last couple... hopefully I did an okay job!!


	6. Chapter 6

For spoilers, pairings, disclaimers, etc., see Chapter 1 

  
ANTE OFFICIUM - Chapter 6 

"Comm check," Zack said softly, crouching next to the perimeter fence, a machine gun slung over his shoulder, a handgun stuffed into his belt, extra rounds and clips in the small pack he carried, and a dozen small explosive devices shoved into the pockets of his camo jacket. The others, similarly equipped except for Max, crouched in the grass next to him, anticipation and apprehension written all over their faces. 

"I hear you loud and clear," Logan answered him. The others did the same; all their communicators were functioning properly. It had just turned 0230, and sure enough, as Zack watched the other side of the yard he saw two of the sentries heading toward the compound. Immediately he turned to his troops and signalled them to split off from each other; Brin and Alec headed east, Syl and Krit west. Max stood with Zack and took a running leap at the fence, easily clearing it and landing in the soft grass within the perimeter. They moved silently north toward the building containing the brig's cell blocks, staying low to the ground. It took them only a few moments to get to the building, ignoring the security cameras that Logan had bypassed and slipping through a basement window. The brig was on the north side of the building and they had just entered at the south side, the same wall they would exit from when all this was done. 

"Team three has reached the med lab," Alec's voice came over the comm after almost twenty minutes of radio silence. 

"Copying database," Brin added. "Estimated time to completion is eight minutes. Way ahead of schedule." 

"Roger," Zack said, pleased. "Our ETA to the brig is nine minutes." 

"The armoury is secure," Syl's voice came soon afterward. 

"And we got us some nice weapons," Krit added. 

"Laying charges around the conference halls," Syl told them. 

"Copy that," Zack said as he and Max moved quickly through the silent corridors. 

"The conferences halls are secure," Syl's report crackled in their ears almost two minutes later. "Moving to lay charges around the generator and then we're out of here." 

"It's 0252," Logan's voice responded. "You've got lots of time." 

"Copy that," Krit said. Max and Zack listened to the conversation as they moved along. Max breathed an internal sigh of relief; it looked like they were all going to make it out of here unscathed. She should have known better than to think that. 

"You've been made. An alarm's been tripped in the northwest sector." Time stopped as Logan's voice suddenly came over the comm. "Damn those paranoid survivalists!" He sounded panicked. "Repeat," his voice came more calmly. "You've been made." Zack halted Max with a hand on her arm. 

"Repeat," Logan's voice came again. "You've been made." Zack halted Max with a hand on her arm. 

"How many?" he asked tensely. 

"Four dozen, maybe five," Logan said grimly. "ETA to your position is three minutes." Max swallowed hard and there was a long silence before her brother's jaw hardened. 

"Teams two and three, what's your sit-rep?" Zack barked. 

"The database will be fully downloaded in two minutes," Brin answered. 

"One minute to the generator," Syl's voice came a second later. 

"Okay, both of you pull out as soon as you're finished. We're aborting the mission," he spoke into his comm, turning back the way they came and motioning for Max to follow. "Repeat, we're aborting the mission." She grabbed his arm, jerked him around to face her. Her eyes were full of panicked anger. 

"We haven't got what we came for yet!" she yelled. 

"Stand by," Zack told the others, silencing his comm; he looked to her, his blue eyes flashing with anger. "We've been made, Max. We can't fight these guys, you said so yourself." 

"I'm not going to leave him here," she said stubbornly. "Zack, he's _family!"_

"We're your family too, and we're going to die if we don't get out of here now!" 

"Then go, but I'm staying," she told him angrily. "I'm not leaving without Joshua." She turned away from him but he grabbed her shoulder roughly, hauling her back. 

"Don't make me carry you out of here!" he yelled. 

"Try it!" she snapped, wrestling out of his grip and assuming a defensive stance. "I'm _not_ going!" 

"I don't have time to fight with you, Max," he ground out; it made him more sad than angry or threatened to see her like that, her fists raised against him. 

"Then you'd better make a decision!" Zack stared at her for a few strained moments and felt panic slowly sweeping over him. He cursed and looked down at his watch- it was 0255; he spoke into the comm again. 

"Teams two and three, withdraw to the perimeter and rendezvous back at the van. If we're not out by 0325, detonate the charges and go to ground. Syl, take Brin with you back home." 

"Roger," Alec said, his voice tense. "Pulling out in one minute." 

"Syl, do you copy?" Zack asked. There was a long silence. 

"Zack-" Her voice was shaking when she finally responded. "Please, not again." 

"We're not leaving you here," Krit agreed firmly. 

"You need to move out, team two," Zack said angrily. "Do you copy me?" Nothing. Max watched Zack panic and bit her lip. After another moment of silence he yelled into the comm, _"Syl!"_

"Roger," her voice finally came; she sounded so defeated. "Withdrawing to the perimeter in two minutes." 

"We're going to make it," Max told her through the comm. "Don't worry." There was no answer and Zack turned to her, his face lined with worry. They hurried togther toward the brig. 

"Thanks for coming with me," she said to him as they moved along. He glanced at her. 

  
_Zack hugged the blanket tighter around the eight-year-old's shoulders. She hugged his ankles with her small hands; her fingers were like ice. Her teeth were chattering. _

"Don't worry," he said, laying his palm on her head gently, feeling the half-inch of dark hair brush softly against his hand. 

"Zack?" her voice pulled him out of his thoughts, high with fear. "What if they take me away?" 

"Don't worry," he said, stroking her head gently. Slowly her body stopped shaking, and she snuggled down further into the blankets, into him. A little sigh of contentment escaped her lips. 

"I'll take care of you, Maxie," Zack whispered. "I won't let anyone hurt you." 

  
Zack knelt on the floor of Max's bedroom, the horror and pain of his entire life sweeping through him as his memories returned in one awful barrage of images, sounds, and smells. Tears slipped down his cheeks as he stared at Max, weeping anew for Jack, for Eva, and for Brin and Ben and Tinga, as though their tragedies had just happened, because for him they just had. He wept for Max, for himself, his lost identity, for what had been done to him, and for everything else that he hadn't yet remembered and didn't want to. 

He watched Max watching him cry for several moments; then she took his hand in her own and placed it gently against her chest; he could feel her heart- his _heart- beating through her soft warm skin. _

"Feel that?" she asked. He raised his eyes to her; her image was blurred before him because of his tears. "That's you in there. You saved my life; that's who you are. You're someone who will sacrifice everything to protect the ones you love." Zack sat there for a moment before he fell into Max's gentle embrace. He clutched her to him like a lifeline and felt her arms encircle his shoulders tenderly, reassuringly. Safe; he'd always felt so safe with her. 

"I love you, Max," he said, tears slipping down his cheeks, holding her tightly. "I'll never let anything happen to you again." 

"I know you won't," she said softly into his ear; her voice was low, pained for him and what he was going through. Softly she told him, "I know." 

  
Zack shook the memories away and said nothing; a moment later he and Max were standing at the door of the brig. 

"Logan?" Max asked into the comm. "How many inside?" 

"Still only the three sentries, but there are at least two dozen troops closing on your position from the northeast sector." 

"ETA?" Zack asked tensely. 

"Two minutes, maybe less." Logan's voice was grim. 

"What do you mean, _maybe?"_ Zack snapped. 

"I don't have great visibility," Logan said, trying to keep his annoyance with Zack's curtness at bay. "There's a lot of cloud coverage and the satellite can only see so much." Zack turned to Max. 

"We have to move fast," he said. She nodded; he took the extra machine gun off his shoulder and held it out to her. 

"Don't you _dare_ argue with me," he said. She made no move to take it from him; Zack reached out with his other hand and grabbed her arm roughly, forcing the weapon into her hand. She stared down at it. The machine gun was heavy and cold, strange and incredibly familiar all at once; it made her sick. 

"Zack-" she started, but he glared at her with such ferocity that it actually frightened her. She didn't like this Zack so much, the mission Zack; she'd forgotten about him in her years out of Manticore. This was a Zack you didn't argue with, who had no tolerance for disobedience. The assault on Manticore the year before had changed him more than he'd ever let on; she realized that now. She should have expected it would have: that mission had cost them both their lives, after all. She didn't doubt that if he felt it was necessary he would beat her unconscious and drag her from this place at the first wrong move she made. Max tightened her hand around the evil weapon and ran the last few steps with him silently toward the door of the brig. 

"... was that?" Krit's voice suddenly came, garbled with static. Zack and Max halted outside the cell block entrance. "Check... hear it?... east corridor..." 

"What?" Syl's voice came tensely. 

"I don't ... heard something." 

"... trying to scare me?" she teased wryly. "Come on." 

"You two are breaking up," Zack said. 

"... generator... interfering... electrical field... drop off soon." 

"Say again, Krit?" Max asked. 

"I repeat, the... emitting an electrical... the signal could..." His voice was heavy with static. "Max... copy me?" 

"I can barely hear you." 

"Don't worry... out of here in a few... shouldn't take..." Static scratched over the comm for several seconds, then silence. Max exchanged a frightened look with Zack as he pushed the brig door open wordlessly. He entered first while she hung back, hurling himself through the doorway into the open area and letting loose twenty rounds on the three sentries inside. Two of them fell to his fire but the last soldier evaded it, letting off a few shots at Zack, who slammed himself back against the wall before the soldier could land a hit. Max was just glad these sentries were conventional soldiers and not Familiars. She watched as Zack thrust his weapon around the wall again and shot at the man; a moment later he was down and they were free to enter the cell block area. Max pulled the keys off one of the dead soldiers and tossed them to Zack. 

"... heard something... anything, Syl?" When Krit's voice came back it was low and strained. Max and Zack kept quiet as they moved through the cell block. The first few cells on both sides were empty. 

"... on three," they heard Syl whispered tensely. 

"There's nothing," Krit's soft voice came a moment later. 

"Alright," Syl answered him. "The generator... get out... charges... just around this corner." There was silence for several seconds. 

"Syl!" Krit's voice suddenly came over the comm, his usual calmness replaced by sheer panic. Max and Zack both froze and locked frightened eyes across the brig floor. A moment later Max heard several short popping sounds and then her sister screamed. Zack halted as the signal went dead, alarmed. He tapped his comm but got only static. 

"Syl?" Max wondered how he could sound so calm when her heart was pounding in her chest. "Syl?" Zack asked again, his voice rising slightly. No answer. "Syl, do you copy?" 

"Krit, can you hear me?" Max tried; nothing. "Logan, can you raise the second team?" she asked into her comm. 

"There's some kind of interference," his voice came a moment later. 

"It's the generator," Zack said tensely. "What's the sit-rep on those soldiers? We just heard team two; they were under attack." 

"There's still too much cloud coverage," Logan said, frustrated. "I can't see anything." 

"Try to boost their comms," Max told him, her heart heavy with dread. 

"I will," Logan promised. Max and Zack increased their pace through the brig; she passed the next three cells, a fourth, a fifth, all empty, and almost went by the sixth one before she recognized the huddled mass on the bunk as a person instead of a blanket. 

"Joshua?" she said; he stirred, rolled over. 

"Max?" he asked, then woke up fully and grinned. "Max!" 

"Hey, big fella," she soothed as he stood and crossed the cell to her, taking her hand in his two larger ones. She waved Zack over. "This is my brother," Max told Joshua as he looked at Zack warily; he relaxed. 

"Are you okay?" Max asked. 

"Joshua's arms hurt," he told her in his halting speech. The cell door was opened and Max reached out worriedly, pulling open his army jacket. She saw blood crusted through a rip in his left shoulder; his right elbow was bleeding where several bullets had embedded themselves inside. 

"Joshua tried to escape." He looked sheepish. "Didn't make it." 

"That's okay," Max said gently. "Come on, let's get out of here. Alec is waiting in the van, too. We've missed you." 

"Alec and Max came to find Joshua?" He looked so happy, like a cheerful little puppy, which actually wasn't far from the truth. 

"Sure we did," she said. They exited the cell but Joshua grabbed her arm, suddenly stopping her in her tracks toward the brig door. Zack raised his weapon an inch, alarmed, but lowered it when Max glared at him. 

"What is it, big fella?" she asked; Joshua led her to the last cell in the block and pointed inside. Max squinted into the darkness, and her eyes widened. 

"Zack, here!" Max called him, her voice slightly panicked. A toddler sat on the bare bunk, a girl about the same age resting her head in his lap, asleep. As the boy caught sight of Max he stood, jolting the girl awake. Her eyes opened slowly, looking up with sleepy confusion. Zack joined Max, passed his eyes over the children momentarily before quickly searching through the ring of keys. The girl noticed them and stood at attention beside the boy. 

"X9-337," the girl identified herself. 

"X9-461," the boy added immediately. They both saluted. "You're X5s," the boy added to Max. 

"That's right," she answered, somewhat uncomfortable at their automatic obedience. "At ease." The children relaxed. "We're going to get you out of here," Max assured them; the boy looked at her and slowly smiled. Zack located the correct key and opened the cell. He and Max entered it, Joshua waiting outside, watching for any sign of an attack and holding his injured arm tenderly, trying not to jar his other shoulder. 

"Are you okay?" Max asked them. 

"We're fine," the girl said bravely; Max caught sight of a gunshot wound in her right knee and exchanged a grave look with Zack. The bullet was still embedded inside; she hadn't even been given any medical attention. The girl took a step forward, then suddenly stumbled and almost fell over. Max reached out to steady her. 

"She's lost a lot of blood," the boy explained as Max hoisted the woozy girl gently into her arms. 

"Soldiers," Logan's voice suddenly came over the comm. "ETA is thirty seconds." Max exchanged a look with Zack and they both wasted no time. Zack slung his machine gun over his shoulder and lifted the other X9 into his arms; they left the cell, hurrying with Joshua in the opposite direction from the approaching men. If they could make it to the south wall of the compound they would be able to get out of the building and to the perimeter fence, Max knew. She just hoped they could make it to the wall. 

"Our ETA to the south wall is forty-five seconds," Zack told Logan as they sprinted through the corridors that would soon be crawling with men. She breathed an inward sigh of relief as she held tightly to the child in her arms; what could happen in forty-five seconds? 

The five transgenics moved quickly through the corridors toward their escape route; suddenly Zack held up a hand as they neared a bend, halting them. Max heard the same thing he did: voices, at least four, coming from another bend up ahead. Zack dropped the boy to the floor and signalled her to flank his position across the hall as he readied his weapon. She gently set down her child and moved into position; the voices were getting closer, heading toward them. When he judged them near enough, Zack signalled Max and they threw themselves around the corner in unison, firing a dozen rounds at the approaching soldiers before jumping back. There were a few dull thumps and then silence. 

Zack waited, indicated for Max to do the same; when several seconds had passed and still nothing could be heard, Zack peered around the corner carefully. Five men lay dead in the hall; Max stared at them for several moments. She hadn't killed anyone since she was a child and looking at them made her skin crawl. The weapon was heavy in her hands, its cold metallic barrel cold against her hands. Not using a gun had been about more than just Eva, more than just Lydecker or Manticore... it had been a firm expression that no matter what she had been designed to be, she rose above it and made her own decision not to take human life. Max stared at the men she'd killed and wondered, _Who am I now?_ Suddenly Zack touched her arm, hauling her attention away from the bodies. 

_Move out,_ his next signal said. Max forced her thoughts away and picked the wobbly girl up in her arms again; they all continued toward the wall. She glanced in front of her at the child in Zack's arms, who sat quietly, used to all the violence around him, and she had to stifle a sigh for his lost childhood. But the two of them looked to be only about three or four years old; though there was no chance of them ever forgetting Manticore, it was possible that once they got them out into the world they could live relatively normal lives. 

"We've reached the south wall," Zack told Logan a moment later; Max saw the window they were to exit through up ahead and felt her heart lift slightly. 

"Almost there," she whispered in the girl's ear; she was sitting quietly in Max's arms and nodded calmly. Max could feel warm, sticky blood seeping against her stomach from the wound in the girl's knee. 

"You're clear to pull out," Logan said, sounding as relieved as she felt. "Just the two sentries outside; most of the men are concentrated on the northwest side of the building. I don't think they know you're in the building." Max bit her lip; that was where the second team was, and they still hadn't heard from them. Max prayed that nothing was wrong and their comms were just down from the generator's electrical field. She glanced at Zack and knew that he was thinking something similar. 

"Anything on team two?" he asked. 

"Negative," Logan answered tensely. 

"Logan, what's team three's position?" Max asked. 

"With me," he answered. 

"We're here, Max," Alec's voice came a moment later over Logan's comm. "We're fine, and we have the database." Zack let out his breath slowly. 

"Roger," he said heavily after a moment. He looked at Max, opened his mouth to speak. 

"... just wake up!" Syl's tense voice suddenly came through over the comm as they finally reached the south wall; it was garbled slightly by static but there. Zack halted his troops and breathed a soft sigh of relief. 

"Syl," he said. 

"Zack, thank God." She sounded incredibly relieved. "I thought I'd never hear from you." 

"I'm here. What's your sit-rep?" 

"Krit's down," she said. "He's unconscious, bleeding heavily from at least two places." Max bit her lip. "I can't carry him, Zack," Syl continued, her voice small. 

"What's your position?" Logan asked over the comm. 

"I managed to drag him away from the generator before White's men closed in on us. We're holed up in an office near the med lab on the north side of the building." Her voice was grim. "There are men at all the surrounding exits, on the stairs... I've blocked all the entrances to this room but it's only a matter of time before they get tired of waiting and think of an alternative route in." 

"X5s!" they suddenly heard in the background of Syl's comm. "Surrender yourselves now!" Syl yelled something at them, her voice angry. A short _pop-pop-pop-pop-pop_ suddenly echoed over the comm. 

"Syl?" Max asked fearfully. 

"It's okay, that's just me," she said. "Every time they talk to me I shoot at them... you'd think they'd get it by now and just _shut up!"_ Her complaint to Max turned into a yell at the men surrounding her. 

"Calm down, Syl," Zack said, exchanging a glance with Max at the strain in their sister's voice. 

"I'm calm," she said shortly. "Everything's fine." 

"Where was Krit shot?" Zack asked her. 

"The leg, the shoulder, the stomach..." Her voice shook. "You name it, it's shot." Max and Zack exchanged a grave look. "The stupid ass, he saved my life..." she added. "I'm trying to keep him warm but I don't think it's helping. His pulse is weak, too." She swallowed past a lump in her throat; it was obvious that she was almost crying now and Max suspected that only her adrenaline was keeping the tears at bay. 

"Zack, where are you, can you get to us?" Syl asked shakily after a moment. 

"We can go back for them," Brin said suddenly over the comm, startling them; her voice was shaking slightly and Max's heart swelled with love for her sister. 

"What do you mean, _we?"_ Alec's voice came, trying to lighten the mood though he would have done it in an instant, of course. 

"Shut up, Alec," Max and Brin said at once good-naturedly; Max smiled. 

"No, stay where you are," Zack answered Brin; he paused. Max watched as he glanced the few metres ahead to the south wall they'd finally reached, out the window at the deserted yard, through which they would easily be able to make their escape. A moment later his features hardened, frightening her slightly. 

"Yeah, Syl," he said heavily. "I can get to you. Stand by." He silenced his comm and turned to Max, who was staring at him with huge eyes. She boosted the injured X9 in her arms as he set the other child down on his feet beside her. 

"Zack-" 

"Here, give me your explosives," he muttered. Without thinking about her actions, she pulled them out of her pockets and he stuffed them into his own. 

"Zack-" 

"At 0325, detonate the charges," he told her. "Sooner if any of them get deactivated." Max looked down at her watch; it was 0316. Joshua was watching them closely. 

"Zack!" Max reached out with her free arm and grabbed his wrist; he met her eyes hesitantly. "I'm coming with you." He shook his head. 

"Rendezvous with Logan and the third team back at the van. Give me your machine gun, we don't have a lot of time." 

"No." 

"What, you want to keep it now?" Max stared at him; was that a smile on his face? 

"Zack-" 

"Max," he said, the smile fading, his eyes becoming firm and authoritative again. _"Go."_ Max turned to Joshua and lowered the girl from her arms, pushing the two X9s toward him before joining Zack. Joshua looked alarmed at her actions. 

_"Max,"_ Zack warned as she approached him. 

"I'm coming with you. You'll never get to them by yourself." 

"I'm not letting you come." 

"Max-" Logan's voice came, panicked. 

"I have to do this, Logan, you know that," she said, cutting him off. There was a strained silence before she heard his long exhale of breath. 

"I know," he said softly. "Be careful. Please." 

"I will," she promised. 

"You're _not_ coming, Max," Zack bit out. 

"I'm not taking no for an answer." She turned around. "Joshua, go." He stood there; she put a hand on his shoulder. "Joshua, _go."_ She spoke into her comm, "Alec, detonate those charges at 0325 like Zack said, sooner if any of them get deactivated." 

"Copy that," he said heavily. He added softly, "Just be sure you make it out of there before then, Max." 

"We will," she assured him though she didn't feel at all sure. She turned to Joshua. "Get these kids out of here, big fella. I need you to do that for me, okay?" She motioned to the children and smiled reassuringly at him. 

After a moment, Joshua took the injured X9's hand, turning and heading for the window with the other child close behind them. The two X5s watched as they crashed through it and hurried for the perimeter fence. Max turned back to her brother; there was a long, tense silence. 

"This isn't going to be like last time," he told her finally; he didn't sound sure at all. His voice was smaller than she'd ever heard it. Max reached out and touched his arm. 

"No," she said firmly. "It's not."


	7. Chapter 7

For title, disclaimer, etc., see Chapter 1 

  
X5 Resource - please visit!! http://members.tripod.com/~Ashantai/DarkAngel/X5Resource.html 

  
ANTE OFFICIUM - Chapter 7 

"We should go in," Brin said. 

"Zack won't be happy." Logan said hopefully. Alec checked his watch: 0317. Brin looked at him and they both nodded. 

"I know," Brin said. She picked up her machine gun. "Let's move out." Alec hesitated. 

"You'll detonate at 0325, won't you?" he asked Logan. "I don't want to get my ass kicked on account of you." He wasn't smiling. 

"Just get her out," Logan said. Alec nodded, then paused and turned back; he set the charges into an irreversible automatic detonation sequence and looked at Logan. 

"Nothing personal." They left and Logan turned to Joshua and the children sitting behind him, smiled weakly. He wasn't great with kids, but they looked fairly calm. Joshua grinned back at him nervously. 

"So..." he said to the children. "What are your names?" They exchanged a confused look. 

"Names?" 

"Never mind." He sighed, turned back to his screen, where he could see Alec and Brin approaching the compound. 

  
Brin crouched in the foliage and waited, scanning the area around the south entrance. 

"I count sixteen on the east side," Alec told her as he joined her from the other side of the facility. 

"There are seven here. Looks like our in." 

"Seven?" Alec said. "We can take them." Brin nodded her agreement and gave him a quick hand-signalled mission plan. They moved in towards the building, slipping past the two sentry soldiers and taking out the other five. They located the window Joshua and the X9s had crashed through and headed for it, hauling themselves inside. The corridor was deserted. Brin signalled Alec and they moved down the hall toward the other teams' positions. 

"Max?" Alec asked. "Zack? Can you hear us yet?" 

"Alec?" Max's voice came, heavy with static. "How-" 

"We're moving to your position," Brin announced, wasting no time. 

"Passing through....generator," Max's garbled voice answered her. "...hear you... signal drop..." 

"Dammit, Brin!" Zack's voice came. "...told you... order... stay..." Brin pointedly ignored him. 

"Can you see team two?" she asked. 

"Not yet," Max answered. "...surrounded...position...below." 

"What?" Alec asked, frustrated. 

"Repeat, they're surroun... we're one floor... position... explosives... floor." There was a long silence before her voice came back. "We're out of the area of the generator now. Can you hear me?" 

"Loud and clear," Alec told her, relieved. 

_"Brin-"_

"I heard you, Zack," she cut him off. "We're just passing the Med Lab. We'll be there momentarily." 

"Negative," Zack said. "We can't get to team two's position but we're below them. We're going to blow them out through the floor. I need you to set charges in our exit corridor to create a debris block." 

"Copy that," she said, halting with Alec. "Where?" 

"Proceed east two hundred metres and prepare to blow out the ceiling." 

"Roger," Brin said. She and Alec turned right and headed down the corridor, pulling their supplies of charges out of their pockets as they ran. 

  
Max hurried to secure the explosives on the ceiling of the mess hall, working quickly as Zack covered her. They could hear Syl exchanging fire with the soldiers through the ceiling and over the comm. 

"Syl, talk to me, how are you?" Max asked as she worked. 

"We're okay," she answered before another burst of gunfire. 

"Just another few explosives," Max said. 

"Are you out of range?" Zack asked. 

"Yeah," Syl told him. "I dragged Krit as far against the wall as we can go. We're ready when-" She paused. "Wait, what's that?" 

"What?" Max asked. 

"There's something- oh, no." 

"What?" Zack asked tensely. 

"They're gassing us!" she said, and coughed. "Hurry up!" 

"I am," Max muttered fearfully, increasing her speed. 

"Hold your breath," Zack ordered Syl. 

"What about Krit?" Max whispered; Zack swallowed hard and forgot about covering her as he got up with her on the table to help. Another minute and they would be ready to detonate. 

"Approaching the mess hall," they suddenly heard a voice; six soldiers walked into the room, their weapons raised. Zack cursed himself for letting his guard down and moved fast, sweeping up his gun as he knocked Max off the table and jumping down with her simultaneously. He pulled a grenade out of his pack and pulled the pin, hurling it at the men as he as he shoved Max's head down against the floor. The soldiers scattered, but it detonated and caught them all. The mess hall grew silent again. Max got back up on the table without a word as Zack hurried past the dead men to the door so he could check if any more were coming. Max's hands shook as she worked; she wished Syl could talk to her, tell her what was happening. She secured the last explosive to the ceiling a moment later. 

"I'm done!" she announced immediately; Zack motioned for her to come over into the hallway with him. 

"Syl, we're detonating," he said when they'd slammed themselves against the corridor's near wall several metres down. "Are you still clear?" 

"Yes," she rasped over the comm before her voice dissolved into a hacking cough. Zack shoved his thumb down on the detonation pad and there was a huge crashing sound and a series of slams and bangs from the mess hall. Dust and shards of glass shot out and filled part of the corridor before settling to the floor. They waited several seconds, making sure there wasn't going to be anymore fallen debris, and then when Zack was satisfied he motioned for Max to come back into the room with him. 

The area of the room under the explosion was littered with pieces of rubble and wiring crackled from between the floors. Zack got up on the table and stuck his head through the hole in the ceiling. The office he saw wasn't in much better shape; he scanned it carefully. He could hardly see anything for about a foot in front of him because the gas; the men outside were shouting. Tears stung his eyes from the chemicals in the air. 

"Syl!" he yelled, coughing. The gas was seeping down through the hole in the office's floor and Max backed up from it quickly. Just as Zack was preparing to haul himself into the room if Syl didn't show soon, she was beside Zack, dragging Krit over by his arms. Tears were running down her cheeks from the gas and her face was covered with a fine layer of dust, as was Krit's. Zack hauled his brother up, knowing that he would be causing further damage to whatever wounds Krit already had by moving him like this but also knowing that there was no other choice. He staggered slightly under the new weight but redoubled his effort, getting his feet under him and slowly climbing off the table, trying not to jar Krit too much. Syl swung herself down through the hole after him and landed on her feet, staggering away from the hole and taking deep breaths of the slightly fresher air of the mess hall. 

"They'll be converging on our position," Max said, glancing at Krit fearfully. "Are you okay, Syl?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine," she rasped, then coughed and cleared her throat. "Let's go." The three X5s turned quickly from the mess hall as they heard the soldiers starting to crash through Syl's door blockades in the room above. 

"Alec, Brin," Zack said. "We're coming to you now." 

"We're ready to detonate," Brin said, relieving Zack as they hurried toward them. Zack was running significantly slower than he would have without the extra weight in his arms, but he forced himself on. Then he looked down at Krit's face and fear gripped him. 

Max and Syl were in front as they hurried down the hallway, their guns ready for anything unexpected. Max tossed a weak smile of reassurance to her sister as they ran, relieved to see her okay. 

"He's not breathing!" Zack suddenly yelled from behind them, freezing both women's hearts. 

"He was a second ago!" Syl's voice was panicked; she and Max halted but Zack ran into them, shoving them onward. 

"Go, go!" he shouted; there were footsteps fast approaching from behind. "The gas," he concluded as he motioned his sisters into an adjoining office and shut the door. He laid Krit down on a desk and Syl pushed past Zack to get to him as Max stood guard at the door, her heart pounding in fear. 

"Okay," Syl said in a wavering voice, brushing her hair away from her face with shaking hands. "It's okay. Hang in there, Krit." She quickly reached down and pinched his nose, closing her mouth over his and giving him a breath of air. Zack pumped his chest, but they alternated for almost a full minute and nothing happened. Max watched in pain as Zack slowly lowered his arms. 

"What are you doing?" Syl asked, panicked. Zack tentatively reached out and touched her shoulder. 

"Syl-" She jerked away angrily, lowered her head again and exhaled into his mouth, then pumped his chest herself. Zack exchanged a sick look with Max as Syl banged a fist angrily on the desk Krit was lying on. 

"Dammit, wake up!" she cried. Zack ran a hand through his hair. "Please wake up!" she sobbed. "Please don't do this to me! Come on, Krit, you saved my life! You did it, I'm okay! Now all you have to do is breathe! Just _breathe,_ damn you, _please!"_

"Syl!" Zack yelled, trying to calm her down though he wasn't at all calm himself. "He's gone." He heard the enemy soldiers fast approaching and was sure men would now be coming from the other side as well. He didn't know if they would even be able to make it to Brin and Alec now, and they certainly wouldn't if they waited any longer. "We have to move or we'll never get out of here," he told her harshly. 

"I'm not leaving him behind," Syl said firmly. She sounded vaguely like she thought he might be joking. Max felt the tears slip down her cheeks; she stared at Krit. 

  
_"Don't leave me here. Don't let them take me."_

  
"Syl," she heard Zack snap, pulling her out of her reverie. "We have to go now, and fast, or we're all going to die. I'm _not_ going to let that happen." Max ignored him and Syl went back to trying to revive Krit. 

"Syl," he ground out. "He's _dead._ Now get up." 

"No, he's not!" She banged her fist against his chest again and gave him another breath of air. Nothing. Zack shouldered his machine gun and marched past Max, grabbing Syl roughly by the shoulder and hauling her away from Krit. He threw her hard against a nearby wall, startling Max, and pressed the back of his forearm against her neck to stop her from struggling. 

"That was an _order,_ soldier," he hissed. 

"You don't scare me, Zack!" she yelled in his face, struggling to free herself; Max gaped at her: Syl, who was always so obedient. Her eyes acquired an evil, desperate glint and she leaned in close to him. She whispered in a cruel voice, low, "And that's the _only_ way you're different from Lydecker." 

If they'd had the time, Max guessed that she and Zack would have stood there, in shocked disbelief at her words, for the rest of their lives. But there wasn't time, so Zack simply clamped his hand around Syl's upped arm and dragged her toward the door; she kicked at him. 

"Don't, Zack, please, I want to save him!" she screamed, tears streaming down her face. "I can save him!" Zack ignored her pleas and the sharp kicks to his legs as hauled her to the door. Max stared at them, sadly not surprised by his actions. He fixed her with an angry look. 

"Come on, Max," he said. She looked at Krit. 

  
_"The Blue Lady- why doesn't she protect him?"_

  
_"This_ is why I don't want you together," she heard Zack snarl in Syl's ear as he struggled with her. Max froze. 

"Max," Zack warned. "Get over here." 

"Zack, I can't," she whispered. 

  
_"Ben, I can't."_

  
"There's no time!" Zack snapped. "We can't carry a dead weight out of here!" 

  
_"I can't carry you. We'll both get caught."_

  
Zack kept hold of Syl and levelled his gun at Max. "Come here, _now."_ She stared at him, sick. She hated this Zack. Syl was right: this wasn't their brother, this was Lydecker. 

"Or what?" Now that Syl had started challenging him she couldn't stop. "You'll shoot her?" She smirked. "That's not very logical, Zack. Then you'd have to carry _her_ out." 

"She's smaller," he said, low and dangerous, not breaking eye contact with Max. She stared at him and for a moment almost believed he'd do it. 

"Go to hell," Syl muttered. 

"Shut up," Zack said evenly. Max looked at Krit and knew that he was dead; there was no question of it, no matter how much Syl didn't want to admit it. She slowly turned to join Zack. Desperate, Syl resumed her kicking and yelled a string of curses at Zack when he wouldn't let go, then redoubled her efforts and managed to elbow him hard in the stomach. He let out an _"Oof!"_ and stumbled slightly; she lashed out with a well-placed kick to the knee, careful not to break the bone, and his grip loosened on her arm. She broke away. 

"Leave me here," she snapped at them; Zack looked about ready to kill someone now. 

"Wake up, Krit," she said in a small voice; Max heard her hand beat down on his chest again, and then again. She felt Zack's hand on her arm and wondered, amazed, if he was actually going to have them leave Syl there to die. But before she could find out what Zack was thinking, Max heard her sister exhale into Krit's mouth again, and then a second rib cracked under another chest compression. 

"Oh my God," Zack's voice suddenly came from beside her, hollow and shaky; he released Max's arm and she felt him brush against her as he hurried past. Her head snapped up and she felt a sob catch in her throat. Krit's dark eyes were open, struggling to focus on the room. He coughed. 

"Syl..." he gasped. "Zack..." 

"We're here," Syl whispered, laying her hands against his cold cheeks as tears streamed down her own. He managed a weak smile and coughed again. 

"I feel like I've been hit by a truck," he said in a raspy voice, raising his head tentatively to look down at himself. He caught sight of the bullet holes smattered over his entire body and groaned, letting his head lower back against the desk. Max reached out and touched his hand. Syl stroked Krit's hair, and then she leaned down and kissed him, long and hard and deep. Krit's hand came up and gently caressed her face. 

Max was not at all surprised at the action, having seen this coming, though she was a little uncomfortable with it. Obviously not all her siblings held the belief she did that they were simply brothers and sisters. Zack glanced toward the door; the men were still coming. 

"Let's move out," he said hollowly. Max's heart broke for him, knowing that he was sick with himself for coming so close to abandoning a brother who could still be saved. But how could he have known? She'd been sure Krit was dead, too... _but I never would have left him here._ What had happened to that Zack, the one who had turned himself in to save her from Manticore, who had shot himself in the head to save her life... 

Suddenly Max wondered, _Was it me? Would he have shot himself for Krit or Syl if it had been them dying that night?_ She stared at Zack; had he ever considered her a sister at all? She forced the thought away; there wasn't time for it now. 

Zack started to lift Krit back into his arms as gently as possible, but his brother cried out and uncontrollable tears cascaded down his face as Zack jarred his wounds. Max bit her lip and a few tears slipped down Syl's cheeks as she touched his clammy forehead tenderly. 

"Sorry," Zack said; Krit nodded, his eyes closed tightly in pain. The men were upon them now; Max could hear them outside. Zack let go of Krit and readied his weapon, Max and Syl doing the same, hoping that the soldiers would think they had simply continued down the corridor. 

Several sharp _rat-tat-tat-tat-tat_ sounds echoed down the hall suddenly, and there was a lot of commotion outside. The four X5s waited, tense, and a moment later there was silence. The doorhandle turned; Max held her gun out with Zack and Syl, ready to fire at the first person who came through it. 

"Whoa," Alec said, holding up his hands as Max barely stopped herself from pulling the trigger. She breathed a sigh of relief. 

"Alec," she said, smiling. Brin was behind him; she scanned the room and caught sight of Krit. Max saw genuine pain in her eyes. 

"Is he okay?" she asked. 

"He'll be fine," Syl answered; Max nodded, then frowned as she noticed how Alec was holding his arm. She touched his shoulder. 

"Are you hit?" 

"It's no big deal," he said, wincing slightly as she withdrew her hand. "Anyway, we don't have time. He held his watch up for her to see. It was 0323; they had less than two minutes before the charges would detonate. 

"Let's move out," Zack said tersely. He motioned for Brin to take over the unit and she nodded, leading them to the door as Zack once again lifted Krit into his arms. Brin snaked her head around the doorway, then jerked it back inside as a shower of gunfire barely missed her. 

"Thirteen left, nine right," she said. 

"I count twenty-four in the yard," Max spoke up from the window. "They must have our exit covered by now." 

"Yeah," Logan's tense voice came. "The place is swarming." The others all turned to Zack, waited for his orders. He looked terrified, anguished, destroyed; suddenly with a chill Max realized he had no idea what to do. 

"Okay," he said heavily. "We split up. We'll be harder to take out alone. I'll take Krit and the rest of you try to make it to an outside wall and get out. Whoever makes it escapes, and the rest of us will go down with the building it blows. We won't be experimented on." His words hung in the air, pressing in on them painfully. Max exchanged grave looks with Syl and Brin; they knew this drill. It had been given the night of the escape by Zack, and it had worked. But not all of them had made it out that night. Max wanted to scream her objections but the others were holding their tongues, seeing clearly how much giving this order was killing their CO. Max said nothing and just watched hollowly as Syl crossed the room to Zack and dropped another soft kiss to Krit's lips. He kissed her back, deep, bringing a hand up and tangling it in her blonde hair. After a moment she forced herself to pull away. 

"I'll see you outside, okay?" she said, her voice shaking; Krit nodded, trying to look unafraid for her sake, and she smiled weakly before raising her eyes to Zack. "You too." 

"I won't leave him behind," he said firmly. Syl nodded slowly, but Max knew that she was as terrified as she was that Zack would live up to that promise to the point of absurdity and never make it out. Captain goes down with the ship, right? CO goes out with the unit. Max shivered and hoisted her gun with Alec and the others. They turned toward the door. 

"Wait," Logan's voice suddenly came, excited. "There might be another way." 

"What other way?" Zack demanded quickly. 

"They've brought in additional forces." 

"How is that _good?"_ Brin asked, exasperated. 

"They airlifted them in," Logan explained. "On a helicopter." The X5s exchanged looks. "Can any of you fly one?" 

"We all know how to fly helicopters." Zack said it as though it should have been the most obvious thing in the world. 

"Right," Logan said dryly. "Of course." 

"Where is it?" Brin asked quickly. 

"The landing pad is sixty metres from the east wall," Logan said. Max felt her heart lift with hope. 

"Okay." Zack turned to his troops. "Looks like a change of plans." He would have been smiling except for the stress. "Let's move out, we don't have much time." 

Alec and Brin took point at the door and nodded to each other, throwing themselves around the door and firing. The men in the halls scattered, fell back, then regrouped and fired back, narrowly missing. 

"I got six," Alec announced. 

"Seven," Brin said. Alec grinned at her. 

"Oh, you beat me," he mocked, pulling a grenade out of his pocket. Max did a double-take as Brin grinned back, reaching for her own grenade. It was obvious she felt far more comfortable in mission-mode than not. They threw them simultaneously and the explosions sounded before the hall went silent. 

"It won't be long before more come at us," Zack said, already heading for the door. Brin led them through the corridors toward an exterior room, Syl bringing up the rear with Max and Alec awkwardly trying to help Zack with Krit. 

"There," Alec announced as he caught sight of a sliver of moonlight through the door of a room they were nearing. Max smiled as they were twenty, then ten metres away, then- 

Three men rounded the bend with their guns raised; they fired. Zack threw himself to the ground, lightening-speed, trying to cradle Krit's head as he did. Syl hit the floor as well, but Brin, out in front, wasn't quick enough and fell to the ground as one of the shots lodged in her left shoulder. Max raised her gun, firing, and the men went down. She was lucky there had only been three. 

"Brin, are you-" she started, then frowned. There were funny lines flooding her vision; she blinked against them, then looked down at her hands. They were shaking. She was light-headed, disoriented. She tried to pit the pieces of what was going on together but her mind was like soup. 

"Max?" she heard Zack's voice from behind her; hesitant, afraid. She took a step to turn back and reassure him, but then suddenly she was falling. A pair of strong arms caught her instantly, keeping her on her feet; disoriented, she struggled against them, expecting a gun barrel to press against her at any moment. The arms tightened around her gently. 

"It's okay." 

"Alec," she said, and relaxed. The moment she did so she lost her footing and the pain hit her- hard. Where was she hit? It was coming from all directions, stabbing at her. Alec stumbled slightly as all her weight came down against him suddenly. Quickly and as gently as possible he lowered her to the ground to examine her. 

"Max!" Zack had left Krit's side and was instantly next to her; she opened and closed her mouth to speak, tell him she was all right, not to worry, not to do anything rash. But her throat was dry and parched, and her head swam with pain. 

"Max?" Logan's voice came. "Max, what's wrong?" 

"She's been hit," Brin said tersely; she and Syl were keeping the two ends of the corridor covered, both with deeply worried expression on their faces. Brin's left arm hung uselessly at her side. 

"Zack, get her out of there," Logan said. 

"I am!" Zack snapped. He looked down at Max and swallowed hard; the bullet had grazed the side of her neck, barely missing her jugular but leaving a significant wound. Blood made small pool on the floor around her head, matting in her hair. Alec lifted her quickly to her feet, supporting her so she could walk, pressing his hand against the bleeding. She cringed, her eyes opening and closing, unseeing, and she tried to cough but found it impossible. 

"Hang on, Maxie," Alec said. "We're almost there." They reached the windowed room and Brin and Syl cracked the glass away with their machine guns before firing at the men outside, who scattered, yelling and firing back. The X5s had a significant tactical advantage, being above; Syl located the helicopter across the yard; a couple of soldiers tried to get to it but she picked them off. Alec and Zack hung back with their wounded, feeling helpless. Alec checked his watch: they had less than forty seconds before the explosives would go. 

"Let's move," Brin said, and swung herself out of the window. She jumped down the two storeys and landed on her feet; Syl did the same and Zack followed immediately, staggering slightly under Krit's weight as he hit the ground. Alec lifted Max into his arms and dropped to the ground, putting her back on her feet. Brin was already running for the helicopter, Syl covering her as more guards approached from the south and north sides of the building. The yard was littered with bodies. Brin slid into the driver's seat of the old black hawk, retired from service in the early twenty-first-century; Alec noted with appreciation that it was in quite good condition for being several decades old. He could remember training on these as a child. Brin started the engine as Syl climbed into the back and helped lift Max and Krit into the cargo hold. 

Zack fired at three approaching soldiers from the hold but frowned as they kept coming; had he missed? He fired again; they didn't go down. Slowly he realized that these were who Max had been talking about, the people they couldn't fight. They must have been the soldiers airlifted in. 

"Let's move," he said as they ran toward the helicopter. Brin slowly lifted the helicopter off the ground, rotating it and preparing for complete lift-off; the layout of this machine started to come back to Zack and he reached for the machine gun he knew was equipped on this model. He fired it at the Familiars, letting loose at least three hundred rounds in a thirty-second burst, but again they just kept coming. The black hawk continued into the air as Alec glanced down at his watch. 

"Three seconds," he said; everyone hunched down and Brin angled the chopper so it wouldn't be caught sideways in the blast, and a moment later the entire compound exploded, sending out glass and debris and fire in all directions; Zack felt the helicopter heat up momentarily as it was partially engulfed, but Brin kept control and they were quickly out of range. Zack looked down at the yard and located the Familiars; they had been thrown to the ground from the force of the blast but the debris missed them and they were now getting back to their feet. 

"How high can they jump?" Zack asked Alec tensely as the three men stopped under them and stared straight upward, unnerving him. 

"Not this high." He relaxed and turned to their wounded. Krit was lying quietly on the floor, trying not to dwell on the pain wracking his body. Max's eyes were opening and closing; she was struggling to stay awake. Zack touched her cheek. 

"Stay with me, Maxie," he said gently. A tear slipped down her cheek. "It's going to be okay." 

"Where are we headed?" Brin asked. 

"South, to Crestview Hospital." Logan's voice started the X5s. "I have a friend there who knows what you are. Zack, you know him." 

"Yeah," Zack answered; he remembered Doctor Carr. 

"Roger," Brin said, turning the helicopter and flying toward the hospital. 

"I'll meet you there," Logan said. "You're going out of range now. I won't be able to-" The signal dropped off and Zack shrugged. 

Syl was sitting with Krit again, holding his hand and smiling down at him with tears in her eyes. She smoothed the hair from his clammy forehead. 

"Hey," he managed, smiling up at her. "You're okay, huh?" He touched her cheek. "Thanks to you," she said softly. "You stupid ass... don't ever do that again." She turned her face into his hand and cried. 

"Sorry," he whispered, and a slow smile crept over his face. Syl held his hand the rest of the way to the hospital, whose helicopter pad was luckily unoccupied since the hospital had lost funding for most of its emergency equipment besides the basics. Dr. Carr recognized Zack and of course Max, and rushed to help both Max and Krit, sending Brin and Alec off with a nurse to tend to their far less serious wounds. Logan arrived shortly after they returned, having dropped Joshua and the X9 boy off safely at his apartment. Doctor Carr returned and took the injured girl for treatment with an exasperate look at Logan, who just shrugged. 

"They said they're both going to be fine," Syl assured him when he hurried over to them, wide-eyed with fear. "Max's wound is superficial and the bullets managed to miss all of Krit's organs. Zack is giving him some blood now." 

"Have a seat," Alec offered, and Logan sat with them on one of the hard waiting-room chairs, breathing a deep sigh of relief as he dropped his head into his hands. Syl touched his shoulder sympathetically, having had a similar reaction only a short time before. 

"That mission could have gone better," Alec said after a long silence. 

"Really?" Brin answered dryly. Alec grinned. 

"I like her," he said, and Brin rolled her eyes. Syl smiled; her sister was getting to have quite the personality. Alec surveyed the rest of the group. 

"Why do you look so sad? Everyone's going to be fine and we completed the mission. Stop being so boring." 

"Shut up, Alec," Syl said half-heartedly, taking over Max's role since she wasn't there. He was speechless with surprise for several moments but then just smiled and shook his head. 

"We are _never_ doing that again," Zack spoke up from behind them, sitting down heavily into one of the chairs. "I got us some food." He handed Syl a bag of sour cream and bacon chips, a package of twinkies, and a can of apple cider. 

"Ugh," Brin said. "You call that food?" 

"Is that what you got me? Because if it is then I don't want it," Alec remarked, looking just as disgusted as Brin. 

"Ah, my favourite lunch," Syl said, ignoring their comments. "Zack, you know me so well." He turned and handed Brin a salami sandwich with extra mayonnaise and a diet coke. She looked at his odd choice. 

"You love that," he said slowly. "Salami with extra mayo is your favourite." 

"Oh," she said. "Right." Maybe she didn't remember quite everything. Brin bit cautiously into the sandwich and smiled. "It's good," she said. Zack looked slightly pleased and turned to Alec. 

"I didn't know what you wanted, so I got you the same thing." 

"Sounds good to me," he said, taking it. "I'll eat almost anything." His eyes shifted to Syl warily. "Except that. Who even _thought_ of putting sour cream and bacon on the same chip anyway? Also, twinkies are like 2% actual food. And apple cider? Don't even-" 

"Hey, don't knock it till you've tried it," she interrupted, taking an exaggerated bite of a twinkie. 

"I don't think so," Alec answered; Logan suddenly got to his feet. They followed his gaze and saw the doctor approaching them with a smile on his face and the X9 girl holding his hand. 

"You can see them now," he said. Syl took the child's hand from Dr. Carr and all four X5s quickly moved past him, hauling their food along with them. Logan hung back. 

"What exactly happened?" Dr. Carr asked. "That boy was riddled with bullets, not to mention the child." 

"It's a long story," Logan answered heavily. "Suffice to say it'll never happen again." The doctor nodded after a long moment. 

"Well, okay. He's already healing remarkably fast. Must be that nanocyte-enriched blood in him." He smiled at Logan's anxious expression. "Go on in." 

"Thanks," Logan said, quickly heading toward where Dr. Carr had motioned. The other were already in the room, smiling down at their two injured unit members. Max was sitting next to Krit's bed, a bandage on her neck but otherwise looking okay if not a bit shaky. 

"Hey," she said to him as he walked in. 

"Hey yourself," he answered warmly, careful not to approach her. 

"Logan," Krit greeted, sounding much better than he had over the comm before. 

"Glad to see you're alright," Logan said; Krit shrugged and then winced at the action. 

"Yeah, well, with my blood running around in there you should be fine pretty soon," Zack said, echoing what Dr. Carr had told Logan. 

"I feel much better already," Krit assured them. Syl touched his hair and smiled. 

"How are Joshua and the other little guy?" Max asked. 

"They're good," Logan answered her. "They're at my place, laying low." 

"I'm going to need you to get some papers for those two," Max said, glancing at the girl next to Syl. "Find them some homes." Logan nodded. 

"Of course." 

"Thank you," she said softly. He nodded. There was a short silence. 

"As soon as Krit's discharged I'm going to move on," Zack said. "I've got to check up on some of the others." 

"What about me?" Brin asked softly. Zack looked at her. 

"Come with me," he said. All eyes flew to him, wondering if he was serious. He explained, "I saw you today. You're happier when you have a mission. I know that. I know Manticore is still inside of you, stronger than in any of us. So come with me. You can help me look after the others. That can be your mission until you don't need one anymore." Slowly, Brin smiled. 

"Thank you, Zack," she said. He shrugged, slightly uncomfortable. 

"Yeah, well, I could use the help," he told her. 

"Not to mention the company," Max added. Zack nodded. 

"Yeah." He looked at Krit. "Listen..." 

"It's okay," his brother cut him off. "I know. I know you did what you thought was right. I was dead." Syl glanced away. "It would have been stupid to stick around and defend my body." 

"Stupid," Zack repeated, his heart not in it. "Right." Syl forced herself to look at him. 

"It's okay, Zack," she said. "Krit's not angry and neither am I." After a moment Max nodded her agreement, and Logan saw a relieved look flicker through Zack's eyes. 

"And I'm sorry about what I said," Syl added in a near-whisper. "About Lydecker. I didn't mean it. I was scared." Zack gazed at her for a long moment, trying not to look as hurt as he was. Syl bit her lip and said, "I love you. You're not him." Zack slowly nodded. 

"I love you too, Syl," he said in a near-whisper, surprising Logan with his openness and the fact that he was obviously in very deep pain about what she'd said, so deep that he couldn't even hide it successfully. Logan could also see in Zack's eyes that he was terrified Syl's comment had been true. He saw Max watching Zack with great concern and actually found himself worrying about how this would affect him. But as always, Zack managed to put on a strong face for his family and said nothing more. 

  
"Well," Syl said as she came to stand before to Max in Logan's apartment the next day. She had already said her goodbyes to Alec and the rest of her siblings. "I guess this is it." She touched Max's shoulder, tears shining in her eyes. "You take care of yourself, baby sister," she said softly. Max reached out, hugged her, and then with a final small smile and a mouthing of _I'll call you_ to Krit without letting Zack see, she was gone. Max smiled to herself and turned to Krit. 

"I'll see you soon, Maxie," he said, hugging her. She smiled into his shoulder, careful not to touch the other one, which was still painful. Most of his other injuries had almost completely healed thanks to Zack's nanocyte-enriched blood. He released her and smiled. "Bye," he said. 

"Bye," Max answered softly. Krit hugged Brin, then shook hands with Alec and gave Zack a friendly slap on the shoulder. He shut the door quietly on his way out. Alec was looking uncomfortable with all of these emotional displays and the two children in the room were fascinated; Joshua was too busy discovering the joys of peanut butter to take much notice of anything. Brin seemed to be enjoying the goodbyes, to Max's great surprise and delight. She had come a long way and she was actually smiling now. 

"I'm so glad you're alright," Max told her, hugging her tightly into her arms. Brin readily hugged her back, touched her head in a very sisterly gesture. 

"Bye," she said softly. "For now, anyway." Max smiled. 

"Yeah, bye," she answered; now Zack was standing in front of her. His eyes flitted to the bandage at her throat. "It's fine," she told him. He nodded, then reached out and pulled her into his arms. She held onto him tightly, not wanting him to leave again but trying to remind herself that he would be back. After a long moment he let her go. 

"I'll see you," he said. "Call if you need me." She smiled. 

"I will." Zack nodded, then left with Brin. Max watched him go, felt Logan's presence in the room a safe distance behind her and sighed, turning away from the door. Alec had risen to his feet and was pulling on his jacket. 

"Well, that's enough excitement of one night. I'm going to go home and sleep," he said. "I'll see you guys later." 

"Bye," Max answered; he rubbed the shaved heads of the two children to their annoyance and looked at Joshua. 

"Come on, Josh, you can sleep at my place till we make sure you have somewhere to go," he said; Joshua smiled excitedly- fun things always happened at Alec's. He touched Max on the shoulder as he went by and Alec closed the apartment door behind them. Max smiled and rolled her eyes, then turned to the kids. 

"Time to bunk down," she said. "There's a nice warm bed down the hall with your names on it." She faltered. "Well, when I give you names, anyway." She motioned for them to go to the guestroom and prepare for bed. "I'll be there in a minute and I'll tell you a story." 

"A story?" the boy asked. 

"Yeah," she answered. It'll be fun." 

"Okay." They left the room silently together. 

"In the morning I'll hook them up with papers and get right on finding them some homes," Logan said, yawning big. "You going home?" 

"No, I think I'll just sit on the couch all night and think." 

"The joys of not having to sleep," he remarked through another yawn. He looked at her, saw the heavy expression in her eyes. "At least everything turned out okay." 

"Yeah." She forced a smile. "It's just a lot to go through in the space of a few days." 

"I know." He wanted to squeeze her hand in comfort, but of course he didn't. "Well, goodnight." 

"Goodnight," Max answered, and watched him turn away, then hesitate. 

"Everything _is_ okay, Max," he said. She nodded though she wasn't so sure, and he left the room. Max rose and went into the guestroom, where the X9s had already gotten into bed and were waiting patiently for her. She smiled at them and wracked her brain for a story she could tell them. The mermaid one she had told Logan's niece? No... And most of Ben's were definitely too scary. She thought hard as the children gazed at her. Then an idea struck her, and she turned back to them. 

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who lived in a castle in a faraway land," she began softly. "The castle was a bad place. It was ruled over by an evil king who wanted to hurt the children. But then one day one of the princess' brothers decided that he would get them all away from the castle so they would be safe. So, the children escaped and tried to make their way in the world. It was hard because the evil king never stopped looking for them." 

"What happened?" the boy asked sleepily, trying not to drift off even as his eyes fluttered closed. 

"The princess was lucky," Max said softly. "She met her prince. They fell in love and had a family and she was very happy." The boy was now asleep. 

"What happened to the princess?" the girl asked, wide-eyed at the magic of her first story. 

"Well..." Max hesitated, then slowly smiled. "She never had to go back to the castle ever again," she said softly, blinking back tears and forcing a smile. Max touched the girl's cheek. "And neither will you." Though she was only a toddler the child had a wisdom programmed into her that was far beyond her years; she nodded in complete understanding that the castle was Manticore. Her eyes slowly closed. 

"Good," she whispered, then drifted off like her brother. Max felt Logan watching from the doorway; he hadn't gone to bed after all. She gazed at the two peaceful children. 

"Everything is okay," she said, rubbing her hand affectionately over their shaved heads. She turned to look at Logan, smiled genuinely and said, "I know." 

  
A/N: Okay, I really didn't want to use a black hawk helicopter because people would think I'm copying "Black Hawk Down," but it was the only military helicopter I could find that had a large hold suitable for transporting men and the only one that was equipped with a machine gun. Plus I figured a lot more people would know what they looked like so I wouldn't have to go into a big description. :) Hopefully you didn't mind!! 

Well, that's the end of Via Memorius Part 3- Part 4 is already in progress. It's called "Lacrima Amare" and it's the last VM installment (I think I may cry). So if you liked this and want to know what happens next, please read that one!! (hinthint, it stars Jondy and Zane and unresolved issues from VM Part 2) :)


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